On 14 April 2025, the European Commission accepted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 (link), which lays down (additional) retaliatory measures to counter balance those imposed by the US on EU steel and aluminum:
- Amendments to the 2018 Retaliatory Measures:
- Adding further tobacco products while removing whiskeys (see Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778). This is a combination and update of Annex I and II of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/886.
- These amendments result in products being subject to either 10% or 25% additional import duties, depending on their tariff classification. Under the old 2018 retaliatory measures, retaliatory tariffs could accumulate up to 50% (for products such as motorcycles).
- 25% tariff rate for copper, iron, aluminium and steel:
- Applied to products such as copper ore, iron and steel products (including tubes and railway tracks), aluminum products (such as structures for bridges), kitchenware (such as cutlery), and metal mountings, fittings, and articles (such as locks and keys) (see Annex II of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778).
- 25% Tariff Rate for Industrial and Agricultural Products:
- Applied to a variety of industrial and agricultural products (see Annex III of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778). The list of targeted products is roughly based on the list circulated by the European Commission for consultation back on 12 March 2025 (see our blog here) and was adopted by the EU Member States on 9 April 2025.
- 25% Tariff Rate for Specific Agricultural Products:
- Applied to almonds and soybeans (see Annex IV of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778). These products were also part of the consultation list circulated back in March 2025.
At the same time, the European Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/786 (link), formalizing the 90-day suspension of retaliatory tariffs on imports of US-originating products listed in Annex I, II and III of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 (link) until 14 July 2025 (see our earlier blog post on the announcement of the suspension here), and US-originating products listed in Annex IV of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 until 1 December 2025. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/786 furthermore describes that the European Commission will notify the World Trade Organization’s Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) of the retaliatory measures of Annex II, III and IV of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778, no later than on 15 April 2025.
For completeness, once the notification has been received by CTG, it has 30 days to disapprove of the countermeasures of Annex II, III and IV of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 (link). If no disapproval is issued within these 30 days, the respective retaliatory tariffs of Annex II, III and IV Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 can be effectuated.
Baker McKenzie closely monitors the developments and issues regular alerts accordingly – please also check our Import and Trade Remedies Blog and Looking Ahead: Business Impacts of the Trump Administration for regular updates and insight.
