Cars, wine, luxury products … essential sectors of the European economy will be affected by American customs duties by 15%, according to the agreement announced on Sunday by the American president, Donald Trump, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
For Europe, this additional export difficulty, although in the 30% of which Donald Trump threatened, is added to the rise of the euro against the dollar, which since the start of the year has already increased for American customers the goods it produces.
Strategic, the aeronautical sector, on the other hand, is exempt, as well as “certain chemicals”, “certain agricultural products and critical raw materials”. European automobile taxation drops to 15%, instead of 2.5% before the Trump 2 administration and against 27.5% since April.
The U-U.-EU trade relationship represents 30% of world exchanges, with 1680 billion euros in goods and services exchanged in 2024, according to the European Council.
On goods (867 billion euros), the United States, the first partner of the EU (more than 20% of its exports), posted in 2024 a deficit of 198 billion euros. On the other hand, on services, the United States was excess at 148 billion.
Drugs
Pharmaceutical products are the products today the most exported from Europe to the United States, for almost 120 billion euros in 2024 (22.5% of the total exported goods), according to Eurostat.
So far exempt from customs duties, they will not benefit from particular treatment, warned Donald Trump on Sunday, without however giving more details.
Transports
Nearly 70 billion euros in transport equipment was exported by European companies in the United States in 2024. The automotive industry sold nearly 750,000 cars there for 38.5 billion euros, according to the European Association of Manufacturers (ACEA).
Germany produces the majority of them, including sedans, SUVs and premium sportsmen from Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.
For the sector, Sunday’s agreement is an improvement.
After the 25%surcharge, Volkswagen’s deliveries fell in the first half.
Aeronautics
American customs duties weighed heavily in this very globalized sector. Since March, a 50% surcharge applied on imports of aluminum and steel, flagship materials of aeronautics. And all the equipment (whose planes) imported from Europe had to pay a surcharge of 10%.
The agreement announced on Sunday plans to bring taxes to aeronautical equipment to zero, according to Mme From the Leyen.
At the Bourget Salon, in early June, in France, the boss of Airbus, Guillaume Faury, had hoped for their reset, just like his counterpart with the American Boeing, Kelly Ortberg: “We are not able to pass these costs on our customers,” Ortberg told Aviation Week.
Luxury and cosmetics
In recent weeks have seen Bernard Arnault, boss of the French giant LVMH, struggling to limit surcharge, with European leaders like Donald Trump.
Luxury should not a priori be subject to an exceptional regime, the 15% should therefore apply.
For LVMH, a customs right of 15% “would be a good result”, said its financial director on Thursday, the group believing that it is being able to compensate by an increase in prices and an “production optimization”, especially in the United States, where it produces a quarter of its sales. The world number one luxury has announced the opening of a fourth Louis Vuitton workshop in Texas.
In May, his competitor François-Henri Pinault, of the Kering group who owns Gucci and Balenciaga, said that “it would not have sense to have Italian Gucci bags made in Texas”.
The cosmetics of French and Italian brands are also very sold in the United States: in 2024, L’Oréal achieved 38% of its turnover there. Its managing director mentioned in April the possibility of relocating a share of production.
Agrifood
“Some agricultural products” will be exempt from taxation at 15%, said Ursula von der Leyen. But no details were provided on Sunday evening.
In 2024, the EU exported 8 billion euros in alcohols, including more than 5 billion wine in the United States, its first export market.
France represents about half: 2.4 billion euros in wine and 1.5 billion spirits were sold in the United States (around 25% of its exports). For Italy, it is around 2 billion euros in exported wine. Sweden sells in the United States its vodka, Ireland its whiskey …
Bordeaux wines, for example, generate 20% of their turnover there. “At 10% or 15% [de droits de douane]we will find solutions, ”explained Philippe Tapie, president of Bordeaux trading, before Sunday’s announcement. But “at 30%, no. This is the end of the story, ”he feared.
Other food products (cheeses, cannery, etc.) form a major export post.
But also…
Industrial machines and equipment as well as electrical and electronic equipment is widely exported to the US (90 and 45 billion euros annually respectively, according to Eurostat)
At this stage, the impact on societies seems unequal.
French Legrand (electrical equipment) estimated in May the cost of surcharge between 150 and 200 million euros, but confirmed its objectives. He intends to compensate by ad hoc prices and countries of manufacturing at lower prices, but no “massive repatriation in the United States,” said his director general.
In July, Nokia, a Finnish telecommunications equipment supplier, which made 30% of its sales in the United States,, however, revised its prospects for 2025, because of these customs duties.
