EU Rejects any US Tariff Increases after Supreme Court Ruling: ‘A Deal is a Deal’

The European Commission has urged the United States to fully respect the terms of last year’s EU-U.S. trade agreement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down former President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. The Commission, representing all 27 EU member states, called on Washington to provide “full clarity” on its next steps after the ruling.

After the Supreme Court invalidated the tariffs on Friday, President Trump initially introduced temporary 10% tariffs across all goods, which he quickly increased to 15%. The Commission emphasized that “a deal is a deal” and warned that the current situation could hinder fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial transatlantic trade and investment.

Under last year’s trade deal, most EU goods faced a 15% U.S. tariff, excluding certain sectoral tariffs such as steel, while some products like aircraft and spare parts enjoyed zero tariffs. In return, the EU lifted import duties on numerous U.S. products and canceled plans for retaliatory tariffs.

It remains unclear whether Trump’s new 15% tariffs override the existing EU-U.S. agreement. If they do, EU zero-tariff exemptions could be eliminated, and the new tariffs could be layered on top of pre-existing “most-favoured-nation” U.S. duties, which would not align with the original deal. Global Trade Alert estimates that EU exporters could face a 0.8 percentage point disadvantage overall, with Italy potentially impacted by an extra 1.7 percentage points in U.S. tariffs.