The United States and the European Union began formal relations in 1953, when U.S. diplomats visited the European Coal and Steel Community (the EU precursor, created in 1951) in addition to the national governments of its six founding countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany, part of present-day Germany). The two parties have historically shared a good relationship strengthened by a military cooperation within NATO, cooperation on trade, and their common values. However, since the 1960s, there have been many long-running and ongoing disputes over economy, foreign policy, and domestic policy/laws.
The relationship has severely deteriorated since the beginning of 2025 with the reelection of Donald Trump as U.S. President, his embrace of the "America First" policy and the conflict over the Russian invasion of Ukraine following President Trump's efforts to redirect US support away from Ukraine in favor of Russia and Vladimir Putin. Moreover, Trump's imposition of heavy tariffs for EU products and his threats against an EU member's sovereignty has led to concerns in the EU over rising protectionism and the potential impact on transatlantic economic ties. Both sides have engaged in ongoing negotiations, aiming to avoid escalation while preserving a stable trading relationship.
History Establishing diplomatic relations
Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the European Community were initiated in 1953 when the first U.S. observers were sent to the European Coal and Steel Community. The U.S. Mission to the ECSC formally opened in Luxembourg in 1956. The Delegation of the European Commission to the United States in Washington, D.C. was established in 1954, and the United States Mission to the European Communities, now the United States Mission to the European Union, was established in 1961 in Brussels. On November 25, 2003, the U.S. and the EU celebrated 50 years of diplomatic ties.
Formalized cooperation In 1990, the relations of the U.S. with the European Community were formalized by the adoption of the Transatlantic Declaration. A regular political dialogue between the U.S. and the EC was thereby initiated at various levels, including regular summit meetings. The cooperation focused on the areas of economy, education, science and culture.The New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA), which was launched at the Madrid summit in 1995, carried the cooperation forward. The NTA contains four broad objectives for U.S.-EU collaboration: promoting peace and stability, democracy and development around the world; responding to global challenges; contributing to the expansion of world trade and closer economic relations; and building bridges Across the Atlantic.
In connection with the adoption of the New Transatlantic Agenda, a Joint EU-U.S. Action Plan was drawn up committing the EU and the U.S. to a large number of measures within the overall areas of cooperation. As an extension of the NTA efforts, an agreement was reached at the 1998 London summit to intensify cooperation in the area of trade, which resulted in the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP). The TEP covers both bilateral and multilateral trade. Bilaterally, the TEP addresses various types of obstacles to trade and strives to establish agreements on mutual recognition in the areas of goods and services. Furthermore, the TEP addresses cooperation in the areas of public procurement and intellectual property law. Multilaterally, the TEP focuses on further liberalization of trade within the World Trade Organization in order to strengthen world trade. The interests of the business sector, the environment and the consumers are to be integrated into this work.
In building bridges across the Atlantic, a number of people-to-people dialogues have been set up. The goal is to enable individual actors to give their opinion. In connection with each summit meeting time is set aside for meetings with representatives of one or more of these dialogues, which include the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD); the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD); the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN), a non-governmental grouping of members of the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, business leaders and think tanks; the Transatlantic Environmental Dialogue (TAED); and the Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue (TLD).
Together the U.S. and EU play leading roles in international diplomacy, trade, and military strength. It follows that their respective policies and practices are important in setting global standards. Both the U.S. and the majority of EU member states are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Despite this, they have regularly disagreed with each other on a wide range of specific issues, as well as having often quite different political, economic, and social agendas. Since the EU does not have a fully integrated foreign policy, relations can become more complicated when its member states do not have a unanimous position, such as when EU foreign policy was divided during the Iraq War. Understanding the relationship today means reviewing developments that predate the creation of the European Economic Community (precursor to today's European Union).
The European experience with the first Trump administration (2017–21) left uncertainty vis-à-vis a realistic prospect on long-term predictability of U.S. foreign policy. The period saw a deepening of contradictions between both parties, including trade, climate action and adherence to international treaties. All in all, bilateral relationships deteriorated and endured a profound damage under the first Trump administration.
On December 2, 2020, following the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a joint communication published by the European Commission lined up a proposal for a new agenda of improvement of the EU–US relations with the incoming Biden administration, seeking for partnership in four major policy areas: health response, climate change, trade and tech, and security.
On March 5, 2021, following a call between EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. president Joe Biden, the EU and the U.S. agreed to suspend all the retaliatory tariffs linked to the Airbus and Boeing disputes for a 4-month period.
The fall of Afghanistan in August 2021 had a negative impact on European Union–United States relations.
On September 20, 2021, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen called "not acceptable" the treatment of one of EU's member states (France) over the AUKUS submarine deal, when Australia, the United States and the UK negotiated a defense pact ditching a long-standing Australian agreement with France. Similarly, European Council president Charles Michel denounced a "lack of loyalty" on the part of the US.
The EU–US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) met for the first time on September 29, 2021, in Pittsburgh.
Second Donald Trump presidency (2025–present)
The relations between the European Union and the United States worsened significantly after Donald Trump had been sworn in as the President of the United States in January 2025. By January 2026, relations were considered at one of their lowest points, and compared to the Suez Crisis and 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The United States' declarations regarding the need for an increased European involvement in its own defense as well as Donald Trump's calls to decrease US military involvement in Europe were seen by the European Union officials as a sign of lack of commitment towards NATO and European defense by the United States. Various controversial statements involving both the US President Donald Trump and as the vice president of the United States JD Vance including threats to annex Greenland as well as accusations of lack of democracy in the European Union were perceived as acts of hostility and unnecessary involvement in the internal affairs of the European Union by the United States.
On February 14, 2025, US Vice-President JD Vance delivered a speech filled with misinformation and falsehoods before the 2025 Munich Security Conference in which he openly advocated support for extremist far-right movements within Europe, criticized the leadership of the European Union for insufficient spending on defense and falsely claimed that censorship in the European Union was being used against far-right groups. The speech was met with widespread shock, condemnation and outrage from EU leaders; the former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt called Vance's speech "significantly worse than expected". The head of European Union diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, said that she had the feeling that the United States was "trying to pick a fight with us." The German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said that Vance's comparison of parts of Europe to authoritarian regimes was "not acceptable".
The speech has been described by both EU and US media outlets as a watershed moment, and a turning point in EU-US relations; that it marked the beginning of the end for the transatlantic alliance and that, going forward, the EU and the US were no longer friends and allies but necessary partners only.
On July 27, 2025, the United States and the European Union reached a political agreement on a trade agreement, providing for 15% tariffs on European exports. The deal was announced by Trump and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at Turnberry, Scotland. European states committed to $750 billion in energy purchases and $600 billion in additional investments in the United States. On 21 August, the EU and the US issued a joint statement with details of the trade agreement. On 28 August, the Commission put forward regulations for the Parliament and Council to enact the EU's tariff reductions, a necessary step for the US to retroactively lower its tariffs on EU cars to 15% from 1 August.
In September 2025, Donald Trump urged EU member states to stop buying Russian oil and start putting economic pressure on China for funding Russia's war effort in Ukraine. The Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is "prepared to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our European partners to follow us." Trump urged the EU to impose 100% tariffs on China and India. However, EU officials deemed the move unlikely due to legal constraints, trade considerations—especially trade talks with India—and a preference for targeted sanctions over broad tariffs.
The administration has taken opposition to EU laws, with Trump posting: "I will stand up to Countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies. Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations". In a February 2025 Fact Sheet, the administration stated it would "consider responsive actions like tariffs to combat the digital service taxes (DSTs), fines, practices and policies that foreign governments levy on American companies", and that "the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, will face scrutiny from the Administration".Defending American Companies and Innovators From Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties Memorandum at FederalRegister.gov Memorandum at GovInfo Memorandum at The American Presidency Project