European Business Braces for Greater Impact from U.S. Tariffs in 2026

European businesses expect a far greater impact in 2026 from U.S. tariffs and other trade tensions than in 2025, when front-loading mitigated the consequences, a recent survey by BusinessEurope showed, Grace O’Donnell reported for Yahoo Finance.

For 2026, the negative impact was projected to be between 0.5 and 0.6 percentage points.

The survey found that trade tensions were likely to reduce 2025 gross domestic product by 0.03 percentage points for the eurozone, the EU, and a broader group of European countries.

For 2026, the negative impact was projected to be between 0.5 and 0.6 percentage points, with the eurozone faring worst, Reuters also reported.

The business lobby group’s survey was based on responses from its 36 national business federations across the European Union and in non-EU countries such as Britain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.

BusinessEurope said its survey aligned with the view of the European Central Bank (ECB) that the impact of tariffs and uncertainty on eurozone growth was likely to be around 0.7 percentage points between 2025 and 2027.