The European Union on Wednesday began allowing US industrial goods and lobster to enter the bloc duty-free as part of a trade agreement reached last year with US President Donald Trump that averted a broader trans-Atlantic trade conflict.
Reduced tariffs or tariff-rate quotas also took effect for selected US agricultural products and seafood, giving them improved access to the EU market.
The European Commission said European consumers would benefit from greater access to US imports and lower prices.
The agreement helped avert a threatened trade war between the EU and the United States. In return, however, the bloc accepted US tariffs of up to 15% on most exports to the US and agreed to eliminate EU tariffs on US industrial goods, among other concessions.
The EU tied its tariff concessions to a safeguard mechanism that would allow them to be suspended if Washington failed to honour its commitments under the agreement.
The measures are due to expire on December 31, 2029. By June 30 of that year, the European Commission must assess the impact of the changes and may propose extending the tariff concessions.
Trump had set the US Independence Day holiday on July 4 as the deadline for implementing the trade agreement, warning that US tariffs would immediately rise to a much higher level if the EU failed to fulfil its obligations by then.
The EU had previously attributed delays in implementing its commitments to disputes and conflicts triggered by Trump. Work in Brussels was put on hold for weeks after Trump temporarily threatened new tariffs against EU countries amid the Greenland dispute.
