America’s most popular vehicles, the full-size pickup trucks from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, may be banned from Europe in a move that has angered US carmakers.
According to Financial Times, US automakers are accusing the European Union of planning to keep trucks like the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Ram 1500 off European roads by enforcing new safety rules that would exempt them from the trade deal between the EU and the US.
US Automakers Sold 7,000 Pickups and SUVs in Europe in 2024
The US pickup issue threatens to throw a wrench in the trade deal, which has been finalized but hasn’t been ratified by the EU yet. The stakes may not seem high for the US, as its full-size trucks make up less than 0.1% of the European car market, but it appears to be a matter of principle.
Under the trade agreement finalized last year, the US cut tariffs on European imports from 27.5% to 15% while the EU reduced its tariffs on US vehicles from 10% to zero. But the US pickup truck issue may threaten the trade deal, whose ratification has been delayed by the EU.
“Right now Europe is in a better position than the US,” an unnamed executive at one Detroit carmaker told FT, referring to the fact that the EU secured lower tariffs and some US vehicles may not be included in the deal. The US ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, told FT that EU plans to change safety rules could breach the spirit of the trade deal if they prevented some American vehicles from being sold in Europe.
At the center of the dispute is the EU’s Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) scheme, which allows certain bespoke or rare models to be imported under less stringent standards. The loophole also applies to vehicles produced for other markets. US carmakers have taken advantage of that, selling around 7,000 SUVs and pickup trucks in Europe in 2024, according to European environmental campaign group Transport & Environment; more than 5,000 of those were Ram 1500 trucks.
America's Large Pickups Deemed Unsafe for Other Road Users in Europe
But the EU is now planning to tighten the scheme, with US carmakers fearing that their large pickup trucks would no longer be allowed in Europe. They claim that the changes would go against the trade deal, under which the EU agreed to recognize American car standards, opening the door to more US-built vehicle imports.
“You can’t have low tariffs and massive non-tariff trade barriers and claim you’ve got a functioning relationship,” ambassador Puzder told FT. According to the US auto executive, the US administration is aware that Europe is "dragging its feet on the trade agreement" while also looking at "restricting US products and limiting customer choice in Europe.”
The American Automotive Policy Council, a lobby group for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, in December urged the Trump administration to block the EU’s move to tighten the IVA rules.
But the European Union is expected to launch the revised scheme in 2027 to close loopholes it said could allow unsafe cars on its roads. Since the EU-US trade deal was finalized in 2025, the Transport & Environment group has warned that allowing more “monster” US pickup trucks on European roads would put pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers at greater risk.
“Ram bonnets are so high that children aged up to nine years old standing directly in front cannot be seen by the average driver,” the group noted.
from Autoblog News https://ift.tt/0B1mhbG
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