
IfM-Position Paper
The impact of the provisional US-EU trade agreement on Mittelstand enterprises
On 27 July 2025, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump settled on a preliminary trade agreement. Of particular relevance to Mittelstand enterprises is that US import tariffs on most goods will only rise to 15% instead of the 30% previously anounced.
In other areas, such as the pharmaceutical industry, the level of customs duties remains unclear, while tariffs of 50% will continue to be levied on steel and aluminium imports into the US.
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Policy Brief "Entrepreneurship in Focus"
Psychological costs as a key component of the bureaucratic burden on companies
Compliance costs measured in terms of time and financial resources significantly underestimate the bureaucratic burden on companies.