The European Union He has accepted A 15% tariff on its exports to the United States. Although details about the agreement are still lacking – such that affect the automotive, pharma and semiconductor sector – this significantly clarifies the bases on which trade between the two regions will settle. Among the obvious pergouts, there is an inevitable for us: how this will affect the technological sector in Europe and, particularly, in Spain.
The agreement. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, explained in its statement How the trade between the US and the EU has a value of 1.7 trillions of dollars per year and brings together 800 million people. The key data of the agreement are important.
15% unified tariff. The threat that weighed on Brussels was 30%tariffs. The increase is considerable with respect to the prior to the commercial war initiated by Donald Trump. The agreement is very similar to the one reached between the US and Japan A few days ago. Washington already applied to the EU (false) “reciprocal tariffs with an additional 10% to 4.8% general that already taxed the European products that entered the US before this climb. Even so the tariff is much higher than in the past: according to The World Trade Organization, before Trump reached the presidency the average tariff applied to foreign goods was 2.2% while that of the EU was 2.7%.
More and more assignments of the EU. There will be no similar imposition for American products that buy Europe. Besides:
- Europe must buy energy (especially liquefied natural gas, LNG) to the USor value of about 640,000 million euros over three years. Von der Leyen, of course, has presented the figure as a way of disconnecting more from Russian crude and gas.
- There will also be European investment commitment in the US arms sector, but there are no figures. Trump Indian that the EU will invest 600,000 million dollars additional to current investments, but did not clarify whether those cited investments in military equipment are included in that amount.
Commercial rebalancing. The Commercial Deficit of US goods with the EU It was 235.6 billion dollars In 2024 according to data from the US Census Office: Europe “was winning” so far, but that situation will be “rebuilt” following the agreement, such as highlighted Von der Leyen. Keep in mind that this US deficit was already balanced with the Exchange of digital servicesin which the US has a competitive advantage that supposed Something more than 100,000 million euros with data from 2023.
Automotive. The automotive industry has been especially present in negotiations. According to the president of the European Commission, “we should not forget where we come from, today the cars pay 27.5% and we have managed to lower it to 15%. It is the best we could achieve.” German automotive giants such as Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW were for example very impacted by those 27.5%tariffs. Spain does not manufacture cars that are exported to the United States, which makes The impact in this case Be null.
Bad news for steelurgy. In the agreement, yes, there are also negative exceptions. Thus, 50%steel and aluminum tariffs are maintained, something that damages one of the important sectors of the Spanish industry and of course to the European. The EU already responded to those tariffs where it hurt: In soybeans. However, it remains to be seen if there are new details that impact that concrete situation in the future. Von der Leyen said, however, in the CE statement that in those matters “the EU and the United States face the common external challenge of excess world capacity. We will work together to guarantee a loyal world competition. And to reduce barriers between us, tariffs will be reduced. In addition, a quota system will be established”, but there were no specific data on this regard.
Spain, little affected. As pointed out The governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, Spain is a country little affected by the tariff because our exports to the United States are 4.7%, one of the lowest figures in Europe. The impact according to him will be “moderate”, although future classulas may negatively affect that situation. Although in the technological field Spanish exports are reduced, there are sectors such as electrical machinery or automotive components that will see their competitiveness reduced.
Semiconductors. In the absence of details, 15% tariffs will also apply to products from the pharmaceutical sector and that of semiconductors, but According to the statement From the European Commission, the tariff “will not apply in the aviation industry, some chups, critical raw materials and some agricultural products.” There are no specific data on the scope of these exclusions of the Araceles, and it seems clear that this agreement still has notable fringes that could cause a sensitive impact on all types of sectors and companies.
Gigafactories of AI. The European Union announced in February The research project ai to create “gigafactories” of AI with tens of thousands of ia chips. These projects have been part of the commercial agreement, because in the European Commission statement it is specified that “the US chips will help enhance our AI gigafactories and help the US maintain their technological advantage.” The agreement seems that among other things can stimulate the creation of these data centers in Europe and Spain.
Your mobile and your laptop (probably) will rise in price. But the most obvious impact – and practically inevitable – will be that of the price increase. Although Donald Trump established exemptions for electronic equipment such as mobiles and computers in April, he also assured that they would review this matter. In the agreement with the EU there is talk of exemptions to tariffs for semiconductors as those that have already been announced at that timebut there are no specific data that clarify whether these types of products will be free of tariffs. Not only consumers are affected here, but of course companies: the operational costs of computer equipment will also rise, and that will reduce the margins of these companies.
End to (almost all) uncertainty. The agreement, as the European president pointed out, “creates more predicibility for our business.” The uncertainty about what could happen to tariffs was a slab for European and American companies, which can now plan their efforts and investments much clearer.
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