Trump tariff of 15% means European exporters will face more than triple the average 4.8% levy now in force

The US-EU trade deal, clinched in a ballroom at Donald Trump’s golf resort in Scotland on Sunday, has been criticised by France’s prime minister and business leaders across Germany.

The deal, which will impose 15% tariffs on almost all European exports to the US including cars, ends the threat of a punitive 30% import duties being imposed on Trump’s 1 August deadline for a deal, but it is a world apart from the zero-zero import and export tariff the EU offered initially.

It also means European exporters to the US will face more then triple the average 4.8% tariff now in force, with negotiations to continue on steel, which is still facing a 50% tariff, aviation, and a question mark over future barriers to pharmaceutical exports.