Importing from the US: duty since July 2026

Since 1 July 2026, goods originating in the United States pay 0 % EU customs duty when their CN code is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2026/1455, which covers the industrial chapters 25 to 97 of the tariff, with a few exceptions, and a list of farm and food lines [3]. Import VAT is still due on every shipment, at the rate of the country of import: 23 % in Ireland, 21 % in the Netherlands and Belgium, 19 % in Germany [7]. The Commission describes the change as the elimination of all duties on US industrial goods, together with better access for certain agri-food products such as lobster [4].

What changed on 1 July 2026

The EU adopted the regulation on 25 June 2026 to implement the Joint Statement it agreed with the United States on 21 August 2025 [3] [4]. It applies from 1 July 2026 until 31 December 2029 [3]. It does three things [3]:

• It sets the duty at 0 % for US goods under the CN codes in Annex I. Annex I lists whole chapters from 25 to 97, with exceptions in chapters 29, 33, 35 and 38, plus named farm and food codes.
• For the goods in Annex II, it removes the ad valorem part of the duty and keeps the specific duty that applies when the import price falls below the entry price.
• It opens tariff quotas for the goods in Annex III: a lower in-quota rate up to a set volume per 12-month period.

What TARIC showed for US origin on 24 October 2026, next to the CN 2026 duty for other origins [1] [2]:

For a car with a customs value of EUR 40,000 that is EUR 4,000 less duty than before July 2026. The import VAT is unchanged by the regulation: in Germany, 19 % of EUR 40,000 plus any transport costs to the first destination [6] [7].

Which origin counts

Until the EU adopts preferential rules of origin for these goods, origin is decided by the non-preferential rules of the Union Customs Code [3]; TARIC carries the same condition on the measure [2]. Under those rules, goods originate where they were wholly obtained or where they underwent their last substantial, economically justified processing [5]. Goods made in Mexico or China and only shipped from a US warehouse are not US goods and pay the normal duty, plus any anti-dumping duty, as set out in Importing from China.

The regulation prescribes no particular origin document, but customs can ask the declarant to prove the origin declared [5]. Keep the evidence of where the goods were made with the shipment file.

Can the zero rate end?

The regulation lets the Commission suspend the zero rate and the quotas, in whole or in part, by an implementing act in the situations its Article 3 lists, and for goods of chapters 72, 73 and 76 specifically if, on 31 December 2026, the United States still applies a tariff above 15 % to EU steel and aluminium derivative products [3]. It also allows suspension as a safeguard if imports rise enough to seriously injure EU producers [3]. Check the rate in TARIC with the United States as origin and the date of your declaration.

What the customs broker asks for

The declarant needs the supporting documents in hand when the declaration is lodged [5]: the commercial invoice, the packing list, the air waybill or bill of lading, your EORI number [5], and the manufacturer and country of manufacture for each line, because the zero rate depends on origin. Freight and insurance to the EU border belong in the customs value [5], as Customs value basics: CIF and FOB explains. The free import duty calculator adds duty and import VAT for one code.

In Ireland, a VAT-registered business can use postponed accounting and account for the import VAT on its VAT 3 return [8].

Mistakes that lead to corrections

1. Dispatch country taken as origin. A US seller does not make the goods American [5].
2. Zero assumed for farm and food goods. Only the lines in Annex I are at 0 %; Annex III goods get a reduced rate inside a quota [3].
3. A rate copied from an older shipment. The duty depends on the date of the declaration, and the regulation runs until 31 December 2029 unless suspended earlier [3].

Athren works next to the broker or customs team you already have, from the documents you already send them, and holds what it would have prepared next to the declaration that was filed, so you see where the code, the origin or the value differs.