The European Commission has extended its suspension of “rebalancing measures” targeting up to 93 billion euros of US imports indefinitely, removing the 6 August expiry date and locking in the truce reached in transatlantic trade talks last year.
The decision, announced on Friday, keeps the bloc’s retaliation package dormant rather than letting it take effect next week. The measures were adopted on 24 July 2025 under Implementing Regulation 2025/1564 in response to US threats of very high tariffs on EU exports, and were designed to apply only if no negotiated solution was reached. The package covers 93 billion euros of EU imports from the United States and includes an export restriction affecting 95 million euros of EU exports to the US.
The new Commission implementing regulation, dated 30 July 2026, ensures the “seamless continuation” of an earlier suspension put in place by Regulation 2026/295, which had been due to expire on 6 August 2026.
“The EU’s decision to suspend its rebalancing measures marks another important step in favour of greater certainty and stability in transatlantic trade, and the determination of the EU to implement what is set out in the EU-US Joint Statement of 21 August 2025,” the Commission said. “The EU expects the United States to fully honour its commitments as well under that Joint Statement.”
The suspension follows the meeting between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump in Turnberry on 27 July 2025, and the political arrangement announced afterwards, which averted the threatened tariff increases.
The 2025 joint framework included US commitments on tariff treatment for EU goods and EU commitments on market access for US industrial, seafood and agricultural products. It also reached into areas such as automobiles, energy, AI chips, defence procurement, digital trade, sustainability rules and supply-chain security, making it part trade pact and part geopolitical bargain between the world’s two largest trading partners.
Under the review clause, the Commission will keep the suspension under “continuous review” and may at any time take further action, including reactivating the rebalancing measures, if it considers this necessary to defend EU interests. The choice preserves leverage for Brussels while giving businesses continuity.
For European companies, the indefinite suspension removes the near-term risk of duties returning on a wide range of US goods, from agricultural products to industrial machinery. The European Parliament and Council had already given final approval in June to measures implementing the EU-US tariff deal, and Friday’s decision is the defensive counterpart to that process, keeping retaliation off the table for now while retaining the legal machinery to bring it back.
Sources: European Commission DG Trade, The Brussels Times, The European Times, EUR-Lex