Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

US, EU Commit to Ending $18 Billion Tariff War Before End of Year

US, EU Commit to Ending $18 Billion Tariff War Before End of Year

The decision by Washington and Brussels to resolve all outstanding trade disputes before the end of the year comes after the European Union decided in May to waive automatic increases in tariffs on some US-made goods.

The US and EU will commit to ending their trade disputes and removing tariffs on aluminum and steel before the end of 2021, according to Bloomberg News, which viewed a document about the upcoming June 15 EU summit US President Joe Biden will attend.

According to the report, the topics set to be resolved include a dispute over state support for aircraft maker Airbus by the governments of Spain, France, Italy, and the UK. The World Trade Organization authorized US tariffs against $7.5 billion in EU exports in 2019, and the EU in turn was authorized to impose $4 billion of its own tariffs on US goods. In March, the US and EU reached an agreement to suspend tariffs on Airbus and Boeing for four months.

As early as December 2020, UE officials reached out to US President-elect Joe Biden about a change in trade policy between the US and the 27-member bloc. The dispute dates to 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump imposed a 10% trade penalty on aluminum and a 25% penalty on steel imported from the EU, calling them a threat to national security.

However, in response to the tariffs, the EU imposed its own on US goods in retaliation, including peanut butter, bourbon, denim, orange juice, and motorcycles, among other goods.

Trump imposed similar tariffs on China, not all of which were resolved by the Phase 1 trade deal agreed to in January 2020. The tariffs were part of his same populist appeal to sections of the US manufacturing sector, to whom he said he was saving American jobs by protecting US industries from foreign competition, which he called "unfair."

Biden Continues Pressure on Nord Stream 2


In May, the Biden administration also decided to drop sanctions imposed by Trump against Swiss pipelaying firm Allseas for its work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that caused the company to withdraw from the project. The 745-mile-long pipeline will carry up to 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to Germany annually. Washington has claimed the pipeline is a tool for Russia to apply political leverage over Western Europe and a deliberate bypassing of another pipeline through Ukraine, but Moscow has said the venture is purely economic in scope.

Russia is the world's second-largest producer of natural gas after the US and the largest provider of European gas. In 2018, Trump successfully pressured Berlin into building a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility and accepting US exports, and in December 2019 imposed sanctions on companies working with Russian state-owned firm Gazprom on Nord Stream 2.

However, while Biden dropped the Trump-imposed sanctions, he also imposed blacklisted 13 Russian ships and three Russian firms working on the project. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday the US could also rescind a waiver given to Nord Stream AG, the company overseeing construction of the pipeline, if Russia were to "use gas as a coercive tool or weapon against Ukraine or anyone else."

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed the first leg of the $11 billion pipeline had been completed, in spite of pressure from Washington.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
×