Trade Between the U.S. and EU Is Massive. We Break It Down.
Trump’s tariff threat against European Union hits a bloc that comprises the single-largest U.S. trade partner
President Trump is threatening to ramp up the U.S. trade war with Europe, and costs to move products like cars, pharmaceutical products and airplane parts across the Atlantic are at stake.
Trump on social media Friday called for a new 50% tariff on the European Union starting June 1 while saying trade discussions with the EU “are going nowhere.” He also called the large U.S. trade deficit in goods with the European countries unacceptable.
How much does U.S.-EU trade matter?
This marks a major new trade threat against a bloc of 27 countries that add up to the largest U.S. trade partner, ahead of Mexico, Canada and China. In 2024, the U.S. imported about $606 billion in goods from the EU and exported around $370 billion. This kind of imbalance is a major sticking point for Trump as he tries to use tariffs to revamp U.S. manufacturing.
Trade in goods and services with the EU accounted for around 4.9% of U.S. gross domestic product in 2024, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. That means trade with Europe is an even bigger part of the U.S. economy than trade with China, which accounted for 2.2% of U.S. GDP last year.
What major products does the U.S. import from the EU?
Pharmaceuticals are the single largest EU-produced product shipped to the U.S., totaling $127 billion in 2024. Europe is home to pharma giants like Bayer and Sanofi, but that’s only part of the story. A number of U.S. pharma companies have factories in Ireland, where taxes are low. In 2024, Ireland exported more goods to the U.S. than Italy and France.
Other top imports from Europe are cars ($45.2 billion) and various types of machinery. The U.S. also bought $5.4 billion worth of wine and $4.4 billion worth of perfume from the EU last year.
What are the top goods exports to the EU?
Europe is a big buyer of U.S. oil, gas, cars, airplanes—and human blood products like plasma. The U.S. also shipped $32.3 billion worth of airplanes and airplane parts, plus $12.4 billion worth of vehicles to the EU. Many of the cars shipped across the Atlantic are European brands, like BMWs and Mercedes made in American factories.
The U.S. is a big player in the global plasma trade and sent $5.2 billion in blood products to the EU last year.
How do services factor in?
While the U.S. ran a goods-trade deficit of $235.6 billion with the EU in 2024, including services shrinks that deficit to $161 billion, according to BEA data.
Counting services isn’t as easy as counting goods—work like business consulting and banking doesn’t go through ports and customs. The U.S. says it exported about $277 billion in services to the EU last year and imported $201 billion in 2024. The EU has hinted in the past that it might go after U.S. tech companies—a major source of services exports—in retaliation for tariffs.
How did the last U.S.-EU trade war end?
In 2018, during his first term, Trump slapped 10% tariffs on aluminum and 25% tariffs on steel. The official justification: national security. The EU hit back with tariffs on more than $3 billion worth of U.S. exports, including jeans, bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
In 2021, the Biden administration reached a deal with the EU that effectively ended the spat. The U.S. agreed to let a quota of European steel and aluminum into the country duty-free, and in return the EU suspended its retaliatory tariffs.