$15 Billion Duty Debate After Trump-Juncker Deal Will Still Need Autos Deal

The recent meeting of President Trump and President Juncker set increased EU imports of American commodities and a reduction in bilateral duties as major objectives for ongoing trade negotiations. The latter could require the formulation of a wide-ranging trade-in-goods FTA. While unlikely to be as complex as the now defunct TTIP it would still involve protracted negotiations.

On the basis of average WTO-posted most-favored nation tariffs EU exports to the U.S. paid $7.3 billion of duties while U.S. exports to the EU were charged $7.9 billion in the past 12 months. Unsurprisingly autos lead the way with the U.S. “paying” $1.7 billion (including $0.8 billion on mid-size engine cars and $224 million on luxury cars) while EU exports face $575 million of duties (mostly on light trucks). Other major bilateral tariff lines that could be reduced include chemicals, plastics, wine and tobacco.