At the end of last summer, the EU and the US agreed a customs arrangement that entails a 15 percent import duty on goods entering the US.
The agreement, which is not yet formally legally binding, nevertheless governs day-to-day trade with the US, according to Per Altenberg.
Both the European Commission and the US administration said this weekend that if there are trade agreements between countries, they take precedence, regardless of US President Donald Trump's new sweeping tariff threat of first 10 percent and then 15 percent tariffs on the rest of the world. The new tariff threat came in response to the US Supreme Court's rejection of his previous tariffs.
The Devil and the Details
The Swedish Board of Trade is responsible for the customs hotline, which was established last year.
What do you say to a company that calls?
"We are investigating what is relevant and trying to provide information to the best of our ability. But the devil is in the details," says Altenberg.
He points out that the 15 percent import tariffs that the EU and the US have agreed upon do not always apply; in some cases they may be lower.
"What has happened since this summer is that it seems the Trump administration has started to get cold feet. It has started to exempt more and more goods from the 15 percent so it doesn't affect consumers or American companies as much," says Altenberg.
Under the radar
But this happens quietly, doesn't it?
"Yes, that's our understanding: it's happening under the radar. They want to avoid imposing high costs on American workers and consumers ahead of the midterm elections, and that's why they're now starting to scale back a little bit," he says.
The US has also, for much the same reason, started talking about lowering the extra-high 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum.
