Although many people are aware of the ongoing tax-related tensions between the US and Europe, changes that could be made to the EU’s Individual Vehicle Approval, or IVA, could finally keep large American vehicles such as full-size trucks from being exported to Europe entirely. The changes have a lot to do with why trucks are not popular in Europe.
This IVA reform is likely to be motivated by environmental and safety groups who see “big animal” trucks like the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram 1500 as both extremely polluting and too unsafe for European cyclists and pedestrians to be around. They point to the fact that the pedestrian death rate in the US is currently three times higher than in Europe. Some of this has a lot to do with the increasing height of truck hoods, which create blind spots that can prevent drivers from seeing adults or children directly in front of them. It is one of the signs that the US Government cares more about cars than the safety of pedestrians.
One big difference between the car certification process in the US and Europe is that US manufacturers can certify themselves that their cars meet all applicable safety standards and the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) takes care of that. In Europe, a process called type approval is required, which means car makers must submit cars for safety and emissions tests before they go on sale. Type approval may keep US trucks out.
What else should you know about American cars being exported to Europe?
In fact, the US-to-Europe export picture is different from what most people might imagine. Of the 205,000 cars shipped in Europe by 2024, a total of 7,000 are full-size trucks. Most of these cars, numbering 188,000, come from the Mercedes-Benz and BMW factories in the United States, including the largest car built here.
For reference, a total of 10,632,381 new cars were sold in the EU in 2024. Therefore, it seems that the sale of these large pickups in the European market is more than a symbolic gesture, in the scheme of things.
But the symbolic gesture matters, especially to the current administration, which sees the EU’s ban on these vehicles as an obvious defense. It is entirely possible that the EU will agree and allow a small number of full-size trucks to be sold for the foreseeable future. We do not have a final EU decision on this matter yet.
If the agreement of July 27, 2025, remains in place between the EU and the US, there will be a US tariff cap of 15% on most EU exports, which will apply to automobiles, pharmaceuticals, timber, and semiconductors. By 2024, the value of the EU-US trade partnership was 1.6 billion Euros, so a few thousand full-size trucks will hopefully not be a distraction.