Pickup trucks from US may increase in Europe as EU signs trade deal
American pickup trucks could increase in numbers in Europe as the EU signs a trade pack with the US. However, some are warning that this would put pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers at a greater risk, especially as data shows that the pedestrian death rate in the US is three times that of the EU.
According to the EU-US trade pact that was published on 21st August, the EU and US “intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards” for vehicles. But some warn that this could lead to American vehicles such as large pickup trucks, which already have a cult following in Europe, increasing in number on this side of the Atlantic.
“To allow more US SUVs and pick-ups to be sold with far lower safety and air pollution standards would be a betrayal of all EU citizens,” James Nix, Vehicles Policy Manager at Transport & Environment (T&E) said. “The EU’s planned capitulation on vehicle trade rules is set to cost lives on European roads. To implement this disastrous pact would mean scrapping European laws that mandate emergency braking, seat belt reminders, and ban razor sharp edges on vehicles. These are laws Member States and MEPs would have to ‘unmake’. It will be over to MEPs and Member States to see if they are actually going to undo 20 years of road safety improvements.”
As many as 7,000 large American vehicles, with more than 5,000 of them being Dodge Ram pickup trucks, were sold in the EU in 2024, even before the pact, sales data analysed by T&E has found. These vehicles were imported and registered despite not meeting European safety or emissions standards, being brought under a loophole called Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA)
The Ram emits over three times as much CO2 as the average newly sold car in Europe, and nearly double that of the average van. What’s more, the pedestrian death rate is now three times more than that of the EU, thanks in part to an increase in pickup trucks and SUVs.
The trade pact could lower the cost of a Ram by an average of €6,000 in Europe.
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