U.S. presses EU on trade barriers after tariff-cutting deal moves ahead

Brussels moved a key piece of the transatlantic trade deal forward on May 20, but Washington immediately signaled that tariff relief alone will not settle the dispute. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the office welcomed the European Union’s provisional agreement on legislation to remove import duties on U.S. goods, while making clear that Brussels still had to address non-tariff barriers and other regulatory issues covered in the pact.

That split captures the next phase of the U.S.-EU trade fight: not whether duties come down, but whether market access improves in practice. The U.S. side said it would keep reviewing amendments to the EU legislation to decide whether they complied with the Joint Statement that underpinned the deal. The concern is whether the legislation delivers the substance of the bargain reached in July 2025, or only the most visible part of it.

The broader framework was politically agreed on July 27, 2025, and set out in a Joint Statement on August 21, 2025. It capped tariffs at 15% on most EU exports to the United States and said both sides would work to reduce or eliminate non-tariff barriers, including by seeking mutual recognition of automobile standards and cooperating on energy trade. U.S. officials have also said the package included $750 billion in energy purchases and $600 billion in investments, while the European Commission has described the deal as a way to restore stability and predictability in the transatlantic relationship.

The pressure is political as well as commercial. Donald Trump threatened in early May to push tariffs much higher if the EU failed to ratify the agreement by July 4, turning the legislation into a test of credibility on both sides of the Atlantic. The European Union says the trade relationship is its largest bilateral economic relationship, with goods-and-services trade surpassing about €1.7 trillion in 2024 and more than €4.2 billion crossing the Atlantic every day.

The issue now is whether the deal reaches beyond symbolic tariff cuts to the frictions businesses feel most sharply. USTR’s 2025 National Trade Estimate defines those barriers broadly, including customs barriers, import licensing, quantitative restrictions and market-access obstacles. In sectors from autos to energy, the question is whether Brussels and Washington can translate their truce into fewer certification hurdles, smoother customs treatment and clearer rules, or whether the fight simply shifts from tariffs to the regulatory barriers that still shape transatlantic trade.