U.S. Trade Policy and Tariff Actions
- EU adopted negotiating mandates for the US-EU proposed reciprocal trade agreement: On 28 November, the European Council adopted negotiating directives including elimination of tariffs on US industrial goods as set out in Annex I of the EU’s proposal. US-manufactured processing and packaging machinery of 8422 and 8438 are currently subject to 1.7% tariff into the EU and would be eliminated under the agreement. The EU will proceed with internal processes to finalize EU commitments. There is no public timeline for when the process will be completed nor when the agreement will be implemented by the EU.
- Status of US bilaterial negotiations and discussions: Please see the chart below for the latest on how certain countries are engaging with the United States in effort to reduce reciprocal tariffs and conclude bilateral deals.
| Market |
Status Update |
Summary |
| EU |
Agreement Framework released through Executive Order.
EU tariffs on US goods not yet implemented.
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28 November: EU adopted negotiating directives on EU-US agreement. See above.
Resources:
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| China |
Preliminary Agreement |
1 November: US and China announce trade deal. The Federal register notices include information on US modifying China’s IEEPA tariff to 20% (10% IEEPA fentanyl + 10% IEEPA reciprocal). Higher reciprocal tariff increases paused until next year.
Resources:
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| Japan |
Preliminary Agreement |
28 October: Fact Sheet includes additional information regarding Japan’s investment commitments in the United States including Energy, AI infrastructure, and Electronics and Supply Chain.
Resources:
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| South Korea |
Preliminary Agreement |
13 November: Fact sheet includes additional information on South Korea’s investment commitments in the US, South Korea’s IEEPA reciprocal tariff rate, and reductions on Section 232 tariffs for auto and auto parts, timber and lumber, pharma, and chips.
Resources:
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| Switzerland |
Preliminary Agreement |
14 November: US announces trade agreement and releases joint statement and fact sheet that includes additional information on Switzerland’s investment commitments in the US, Switzerland’s IEEPA reciprocal tariff, and Switzerland’s commitment to lower tariffs on U.S. industrial goods to zero.
Resources:
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| India |
Negotiations ongoing |
28 November: India and the US are expected to finalize a trade deal by the end of the year.
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| Canada |
Bilateral and USMCA negotiations ongoing |
1 December: Canada and US are expected to continue trade negotiations this week in Washington, DC.
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| Mexico |
Negotiations ongoing |
29 October: US paused the implementation of the additional 5% IEEPA tariff (to total 30%) on non-USMCA compliant goods.
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| Taiwan |
Negotiations ongoing |
1 December: Trade negotiations ongoing. Taiwan is aiming for a 5% reduction in reciprocal tariffs (15% from 20%).
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| Brazil |
Negotiations ongoing |
20 November: The White House issued an Executive Order removing IEEPA Brazilian domestic policy tariffs for certain agricultural products. No impact on PMMI machinery.
Resources:
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Trade Policy Actions by Other Countries
- Canada announces new measures to protect steel industry: On 26 November, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney announced new measures to protect Canada’s steel industry from excess capacity of low-priced steel imports effective 26 December 2025, which may increase sourcing costs of steel for Canadian machinery manufacturers.
- The protective measures include:
- Quota reductions for tariff-rate-quotas (TRQs) applied on free trade agreement (FTA) and non-FTA countries.
- Import quotas for steel from FTA partner countries have been reduced from 100% to 75% of 2024 country import levels. However, the United States and Mexico are exempt from this required given USMCA carve outs.
- Import quotas for steel from non-FTA partner countries have been reduced from 50% to 20% of 2024 levels.
- In-quota (InQ) duty free and out-of-quota (OQ) tariff of 50% remain unchanged.
- 25% tariff on the full value of steel derivatives from all countries. An official comprehensive list of steel derivative products impacted has not yet been published. The press release from the Prime Minister’s office indicates scope may include certain shapes of iron/non-alloy steel, wires, ropes, cables and chains, fasteners (e.g., nails, screws), steel and iron cloth, grille, and netting.
- Limited extension (approximately 6 weeks) of tariff relief from Canada’s retaliatory action on US steel used for manufacturing, processing, food and beverage packaging, or agricultural production from 15 December 2025 to 31 January 2026.
- Starting 1 February of next year, importers will no longer be able to access the “horizontal remission” process which allowed for across-the-board tariff relief from Canadian retaliatory tariffs.
- However, importers will continue to be eligible to apply for remission under the remission framework published by the government on 4 March 2025, which provides for ongoing tariff relief in a narrow set of circumstances, for example where inputs cannot be sourced domestically.
- India considers extending safeguard duties on steel imports from China: In 2024, India’s Department of Commerce (DOC) conducted an anti-dumping/counter-vailing duty (AD/CVD) investigation into non-alloy and alloy steel from China which resulted in additional safeguard tariffs of 12% for imports into India. The additional safeguard tariffs expired on 7 November, but reports indicate that India’s DOC is considering extending the implementation of these safeguard duties. There has been no official publication from India’s government on the extension of this safeguard duty. If extended, the additional tariffs may increase sourcing cost of Chinese origin steel in India for certain machinery manufacturers in India.
