An early morning press release from the White House on Thursday announced that the European Union has agreed to eliminate all tariffs on industrial goods from the U.S. after reaching a trade deal.
The White House released a press release announcing that both entities have reached an agreement on a Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade, or “Framework Agreement.” The press release read, “This Framework Agreement represents a concrete demonstration of our commitment to fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial trade and investment.”
“This Framework Agreement will put our trade and investment relationship – one of the largest in the world – on a solid footing and will reinvigorate our economies’ reindustrialisation,” the joint statement added. “It reflects acknowledgement by the European Union of the concerns of the United States and our joint determination to resolve our trade imbalances and unleash the full potential of our combined economic power.”
“The United States and the European Union intend this Framework Agreement to be a first step in a process that can be further expanded over time to cover additional areas and continue to improve market access and increase their trade and investment relationship,” the statement adds. Under the terms of the agreement, the EU intends to eliminate the tariff on U.S. goods.
According to the statement, the elimination of the tariff would allow “access for a wide range of U.S. seafood and agricultural goods, including tree nuts, dairy products, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, processed foods, planting seeds, soybean oil, and pork and bison meat.” The statement added that the EU has already taken “necessary steps to extend the Joint Statement of the United States and the European Union on a Tariff Agreement announced on August 21, 2020, with respect to lobster (that expired 31 July 2025), coupled with an expanded product scope to include processed lobster.”
“The United States commits to apply the higher of either the U.S. Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff rate or a tariff rate of 15 percent, comprised of the MFN tariff and a reciprocal tariff, on originating goods of the European Union,” the second condition read. “Additionally, effective as of 1 September 2025, the United States commits to apply only the MFN tariff to the following products of the European Union: unavailable natural resources (including cork), all aircraft and aircraft parts, generic pharmaceuticals and their ingredients and chemical precursors.”
The agreement also extends to gas and “diversified energy supplies.”The joint statement reads that “the European Union intends to procure U.S. liquified natural gas, oil, and nuclear energy products with an expected offtake valued at $750 billion through 2028.”
“In addition, the European Union intends to purchase at least $40 billion worth of U.S. AI chips for its computing centres,” it read. “The European Union further plans to work with the United States to adopt and maintain technology security requirements in line with those of the United States.”
Weak deal
The announcement of the deal comes after a major EU member ripped into the deal U.S. as “submissive” to President Trump’s whims. French Prime Minister François Bayrou blasted the deal, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen brokered on Sunday, as an “act of submission.” Taking to X, Bayrou savaged von der Leyen and the deal.
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission,” Bayrou said in the post. The Hill reported that the negotiated deal sets the tariffs at 15 percent for European imports, including automobiles.
The agreed-upon 15% tariff is half of what President Trump threatened to impose had no deal been reached. Some officials said that the percentage was higher than what they were hoping to see, especially after enjoying a single-digit percentage for decades.