Body assures that the majority Spanish merchandise pay much less tariffs after the Supreme Court’s blow to Trump | Economy | EUROtoday

Not every thing is black within the local weather of uncertainty to which international commerce has returned. The Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, insisted this Tuesday that the most recent adjustments in US tariff coverage have left a great a part of Spanish merchandise in a “slightly more favorable situation” in comparison with what they’d earlier than the US Supreme Court struck down the majority of Donald Trump’s tariffs final week. “With the United States-European Union agreement, the average tariff we had was around 14.4%. Today we have an average tariff with the United States of around 12.6%,” he acknowledged this morning in an interview in Zero Wave. However, the pinnacle of the Economy has clarified that the development doesn’t apply to all exported items — 60% can be “slightly better,” 10% “slightly worse” and 30% “more or less the same,” he estimates — and has recalled that this state of affairs is non permanent.
Despite the slight discount in charges, uncertainty has risen once more among the many corporations most uncovered to the US market. Last Friday, the North American justice system annulled the so-called reciprocal tariffs that Washington launched in April, a ruling to which Trump responded with the announcement of latest taxes, of a common 10%, which in precept can solely be in power for 150 days. A state of affairs that calls into query the commerce settlement that the United States signed with the EU in July of final 12 months, which establishes a single 15% surcharge on neighborhood merchandise exported to the opposite facet of the Atlantic.
The European Commission, in addition to the central authorities and the Spanish enterprise sector, are asking for readability within the guidelines of the sport and for the pacts to be revered. This identical Tuesday, the Studies Service of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce printed an evaluation of the state of affairs. In it, he advises Spanish firms to overview contracts with American prospects and distributors to incorporate worth overview clauses in them and set up renegotiation mechanisms attributable to regulatory change. It additionally recommends accelerating the seek for new various markets and evaluating changes to its presence within the United States, in addition to analyzing intimately which items may gain advantage from a tariff exemption.
In the doc, the company that represents the pursuits of commerce focuses on the authorized uncertainty that when once more dominates the horizon. “Trade uncertainty continues to be the main risk factor for export activity, more than the specific tariff level,” he summarizes, recalling that “the ruling [del Supremo de EE UU] “It does not automatically equate to a normalization of transatlantic trade, but rather opens a transition phase with several plausible scenarios.”
The first of them is the containment of uncertainty, which would be achieved by respecting the US-EU agreement. The materially agreed limits and exemptions should be maintained. The second scenario drawn by the Chamber of Commerce is one in which the new temporary tariff announced by Washington prevails, but at 15% – the percentage to which Trump wants to raise it – which would mean an “erosion of the relative advantage of the EU”, since it would end up being applied to third countries and would reduce the comparative advantage provided by the agreement between the two parties. The last and worst outcome, the organization points out, would be a “selective re-escalation”, wherein the White House shifts the strain to sectoral or nation investigations. “This scenario would increase regulatory segmentation by products and sectors, with a greater compliance burden, more litigation and greater volatility in terms of entry into force.”
However, the Chamber of Commerce remembers that Spanish publicity to the North American market is restricted, because the United States solely absorbs between 4% and 5% of nationwide exports of products – in 2025 they represented 4.3% in accordance with the Ministry of Commerce. Even so, there are particularly weak sectors, akin to oil, wine or vehicle parts, and the blow of tariffs, though contained, has been felt in 2025: Spanish exports to the nation fell by 8%, with significantly marked declines in gross sales of oil (-29%), fuels and lubricants (-47.2%), automotive tools, parts and equipment (-37.2%) or forged iron (-35.2%) and metal (–33.0%).
https://elpais.com/economia/2026-02-24/cuerpo-asegura-que-la-mayoria-de-productos-espanoles-pagan-menos-aranceles-tras-el-varapalo-del-supremo-a-trump.html