Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has strongly criticized the U.S. for imposing a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on European Union (EU) imports, calling the U.S. claim of a 39% import tariff by the EU “untrue.”
The U.S. announced the 20% duty on EU goods, justifying the move as a response to the EU’s alleged 39% tariff on American imports. However, Sanchez dismissed this figure, stating that a return to “19th-century protectionism” is not a smart approach.
The 39% tariff figure presented by the U.S. is widely disputed, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) indicating that the EU’s average tariff rate was only 4.9% in 2024. The European Commission also clarified that there is no single, absolute figure for the average tariff on EU-U.S. trade, but in practice, the average tariff rate is around 1%.
In 2023, the U.S. collected approximately €7 billion in tariffs on EU exports, while the EU collected about €3 billion on U.S. goods.
Sanchez’s comments come amid growing tensions between the EU and the U.S., with both sides navigating complex trade relations and the Trump administration’s ongoing use of trade deficits to inform tariff decisions.
