The head of the European Parliament’s trade committee called President Donald Trump’s threat to boost tariffs on EU cars and trucks “unacceptable,” and criticized the U.S. for being an unreliable partner.

Trump on May 1 said he would boost levies on cars and trucks from the European Union to 25%, saying that the bloc had failed to fully comply with a trade agreement struck with the U.S.

“This latest move demonstrates just how unreliable the U.S. side is,” European Parliament’s Bernd Lange said in comments to Bloomberg News. “This is no way to treat close partners.”

Under the trade deal – which was signed in July 2025 — the EU agreed to erase levies on U.S. industrial goods in exchange for a 15% tariff ceiling on most EU products. Officials in the EU say the U.S. hasn’t complied with the accord, pointing to the fact that Washington widened a 50% tariff on European steel and aluminum in August 2025 to include hundreds of new products.

The U.S. has implemented certain provisions of the deal, capping tariffs on many EU exports at the agreed 15% level.  

The European Parliament has repeatedly blocked ratifying the agreement after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s use of an emergency-powers law to impose global tariffs and after the American president threatened to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of EU member Denmark.

“The U.S. has repeatedly breached the agreement,” Lange said, referring to American tariffs on steel and aluminum. “We have already witnessed these arbitrary attacks from the U.S. in the case of Greenland.”

European Parliament finally approved the deal but added multiple amendments to the legislation. Those include a stipulation that the agreement won’t be implemented until the U.S. honors its commitments, and a March 2028 expiration date, unless both sides agreed to an extension. 

Lange reiterated that parliament is drafting legislation to ratify the trade deal with the U.S. and hopes to finalize it in June.