The Council of the European Union (EU) today gave ‘green light’ to the agreement between the bloc and the United States (US) on customs tariffs, which comes into force after signature and publication in the Official Journal.
© Lusa
25/06/2026
by
Lusa
A adoption by Member States of the two Regulations on customs duties commitments set out in the EU-US Joint Declaration of 21 August 2025 concluded the legislative procedure and the European Parliament has already given its approval.
The two texts eliminate EU customs duties still in force on US industrial products, introduce preferential access for certain sea products and non-sensitive US agricultural products through tariff quotas and reduced tariffs and extend the suspension of customs duties on lobster imports.
According to a statement, the Regulations also contain enhanced safeguard and suspension mechanisms, providing for a specific safeguard mechanism that enables the European Commission “to act quickly in cases of significant increases in imports causing or threatening to cause serious harm to EU operators, and to strengthen the EU’s ability to suspend tariff preferences where the US does not comply with its commitments, compromise the objectives of the Joint Declaration or otherwise disrupt balanced trade relations, including through discriminatory measures.”.
The main Regulation will cease to apply at the end of 2029 and, by 30 June 2029, the Commission will submit an assessment of its impact on trade flows between the EU and the US, on customs revenue and economic effects and will monitor that assessment with a legislative proposal to extend the application of the Regulations, where appropriate.
The Regulation on imports of lobster shall apply retroactively from 1 August 2025 and shall expire on 31 July 2030, unless further measures are taken.