Trump announced a duty hike on cars and trucks from the EU of up to 25%

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise duties on cars and trucks from the European Union imported into the United States to 25%. Trump wrote about this in the social network Truth Social. According to him, import duties will increase "next week".

"On the basis that the European Union is not honoring our fully negotiated Trade Deal, next week I will increase the duties levied on imports from the European Union on cars and trucks by up to 25%," the U.S. president wrote.

The duties will not affect the production of European brands at plants in the U.S., Trump said, telling reporters at the White House that higher duties would force European automakers to move production to plants in the U.S. more quickly, Reuters writes. "We have a trade deal with the European Union. They have not honored it. So I raised the duties on cars and trucks to 25%, that's billions of dollars for the United States, and it's forcing them [European automakers] to move their factory production much faster," Trump reportedly said.

Ford shares were down 2% after Trump's statements, General Motors shares were losing 1.1%. Shares of European holding Stellantis, traded in the U.S., were down 1.7%.

Trump's decision to increase duties may be related to his displeasure that some European countries have not supported the U.S. in the war against Iran, Ryan Majerus, a former senior U.S. Commerce Department official and now a partner at King & Spalding, noted in a statement to Reuters. "It's not going to please the EU, and I'm not sure the [Trump] administration cares because they're incredibly negative about the EU," he added.

The US Supreme Court had previously barred Trump from using emergency powers to immediately impose duties on trading partners, as he did last year, but duties on cars are imposed under a different legal standard and they were not affected by this court ruling, the FT notes.

The U.S. and the EU concluded a trade agreement in July 2025. It provided for limiting U.S. duties on most European goods, including automobiles and auto parts, to 15% instead of 25%. In return, the EU was to expand purchases of U.S. energy and increase investment in the U.S., as well as eliminate duties on U.S. industrial goods and some agricultural products. This, according to the FT, is what U.S. officials are dissatisfied with: Washington believes that Brussels is too slow in implementing its part of the agreement.

Although EU lawmakers in March backed the bill needed to cut duties, the process is unlikely to be finalized before June as EU governments and the European Parliament agree on the final texts, Reuters writes.

"President Trump's behavior is unacceptable," Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament's international trade committee, told Reuters. - This latest move shows how unreliable the US side is. We have already seen such arbitrary attacks by the US in the Greenland case; this is not how close partners are treated. Now we can only respond with maximum clarity and firmness, based on the strength of our position."

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor