EU trade with the United States reached record levels in 2025 despite tariff tensions, but the headline figures masked falling exports across most member states and major industries, according to a July 3 report by the German Economic Institute.
The German Economic Institute (IW) said that the year 2025 was marked by the “introduction of unprecedented tariffs by the US administration. ”
Despite these tensions, the exchange of goods between the EU and the United States climbed to an “all-time high” of 875 billion euros ($1 trillion), with exports from the EU to the United States amounting to 580 billion euros ($663.7 billion), a rise of 7.7 percent, while imports from the United States to the EU stood at 295 billion euros ($337.6 billion), up 2.2 percent, the IW said.
The resulting EU goods trade surplus with the United States approached 285 billion euros ($326.1 billion), also a new high.
However, the report said the figures gave a “misleading” impression that U.S. tariffs and political tensions had not fundamentally affected trade.
It said that at first glance, “the record-level data might suggest that tariffs and political friction have left the underlying economic relationship largely unaffected, or have even inadvertently intensified it.”
“This first impression, however, is misleading,” said IW.
The report said some of the increase was due to the front-loading of exports ahead of the tariffs that took effect in April, and added that European manufacturing had suffered as a result.
EU car and parts exports to the United States fell 20.4 percent in 2025, with Germany, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of EU auto exports to the United States, posting an 18.9 percent drop.
Ireland had a 52.7 percent surge in exports, driven by tariff-exempt pharmaceutical and chemical products.
Czech Republic (+5.1 percent), Italy (+7.2 percent), Denmark (+10.6 percent), and Finland (+10.8 percent) all reported growth.
Transatlantic services trade also hit a record 865 billion euros ($989.9 billion), though the EU ran a 178 billion-euro ($203.7 billion) deficit in that category.
“The transatlantic trade relationship is therefore much more balanced, when considering both goods and service trade,” the study said.
Intellectual property fees, covering software licenses, patents, and trademarks, accounted for more than 40 percent of EU service imports from the United States, rising 13.7 percent.
EU imports of travel services from the United States fell by around 8 percent.
“This decline is likely attributable to the reduced number of European tourists in the US last year,” the report said.
The study said the Turnberry trade deal between the EU and the United States had asymmetrically benefited America, but it was still a workable solution that should be honored by both sides.
“New tariff threats would cause new uncertainty that only hampers business activities on both sides of the Atlantic,” IW said.
European Union lawmakers on June 16 approved legislation implementing key parts of a trade agreement with the United States, clearing the way for lower tariffs on a broad range of U.S. goods.
The European Parliament voted to approve two regulations tied to the EU–U.S. trade agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland, in July 2025.
The main measure removes tariffs on U.S. industrial products and grants preferential access for a range of American agricultural and seafood exports. The legislation also extends tariff-free access for U.S. lobster imports and expands the arrangement to cover processed lobster products.
Von der Leyen welcomed the vote and said the bloc was fulfilling its commitments under the agreement.
“A deal is a deal—and the EU is delivering its part,” she said in a June 16 post on X.
Von der Leyen said the vote brought the EU closer to removing tariffs on imports of U.S. industrial goods and would help strengthen transatlantic trade and investment.
Evgenia Filimianova and Reuters contributed to this report.
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