The US has decided against slapping immediate tariffs on aircraft and parts, choosing instead to negotiate with trading partners.
The zero-percent playbook
In September 2025, a White House executive order formally established zero percent reciprocal tariff rates for aircraft and aircraft parts. The move effectively reinstated terms similar to those under the 1979 Civil Aircraft Agreement, a decades-old framework that kept aerospace trade flowing relatively freely between major manufacturing nations.
The US-EU framework agreement reinforced this approach. It set a 15% tariff ceiling on most EU exports while carving out a complete exemption for aircraft and parts. In practice, that means a zero-for-zero framework where neither side taxes the other’s planes or components.
Similar exemptions have shown up in trade deals with the UK and Indonesia. Airlines for America, the major US airline trade group, has publicly backed this approach. Companies like Delta and even Airbus, the European rival to Boeing, have expressed support for maintaining tariff-free treatment.
