“The US tariff rate of 15%, which also applies to automotive products, will cost German automotive companies billions annually and burdens them”, said Hildegard Mueller, president of Germany’s main auto industry group, the VDA.

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clinched a deal late Sunday that includes a baseline US tariff of 15% in a bid to avert a full-blown trade war.

The new rate is lower than the 25% tariff Trump slapped on carmakers in April, but significantly higher than the usual 2.5% duty that was applied prior.

“Important now is how the agreement looks in concrete terms and how reliable it is,” Mueller said.

The EU-US deal has so far received a muted reaction in Europe.

While German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed the deal, saying it avoided “needless escalation in transatlantic trade relations”, EU chief von der Leyen acknowledged that “15% is not to be underestimated, but it is the best we could get”.

France’s minister for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, said on Monday the agreement was “unbalanced” and Germany’s BDI business federation said the accord would have “considerable negative repercussions”.