More than a year of often fraught negotiations with the US Trump administration came to a close on Tuesday (16 June) when MEPs backed a trade pact that will cut import duties on US goods in exchange for a 15-percent tariff ceiling.
In Strasbourg, MEPs voted by a hefty 440 to 151 margin to approve a law that eliminates tariffs on all US industrial goods, but which also features a series of safety clauses to protect EU firms.
Bernd Lange, the German social democrat who chairs the parliament’s international trade committee, and who has led the parliament’s negotiating team on the US trade file, said the result was a “big democratic majority” and “an important step to having a safety net” – though he also described the deal itself as “unbalanced and unfair”.
The US is widely thought to have got the better of an agreement that imposes 15-percent tariffs on almost all EU exports in exchange for the bloc scrapping most tariffs on US imports.
Our incredible and resilient transatlantic relationship is the largest trade and investment partnership in the history of the world. But prosperity doesn’t happen by accident. It requires action, collaboration, and pragmatic solutions that work for us together. Today,…— Ambassador Andrew Puzder (@USAmbEU) June 16, 2026
