EU Parliament puts US trade deal on ice after latest Trump tariff hit

BRUSSELS — The European Parliament froze ratification of the EU’s trade deal with the United States on Monday amid concerns that President Donald Trump’s latest tariff broadside breaches the terms of the transatlantic accord struck last summer.

Senior trade lawmakers pulled the emergency brake after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down the main tariffs on which the deal, reached at Trump’s Turnberry Scottish golf resort last July, had been based. Trump said on Saturday he would impose a global tariff of 15 percent under a new legal authority — triggering alarm across the bloc. 

“The decision to postpone the vote on the implementation of the U.S. deal is the right one. Given the current enormous uncertainty, a vote would be unjustifiable,” said Anna Cavazzini, who represents the Greens.

A second lawmaker, Željana Zovko of the center-right European People’s Party, confirmed the delay but nonetheless called for the European Parliament to hold a final vote on the Turnberry accord next month.

“We have to act as Team Europe and have one voice,” Zovko told POLITICO. “I agreed to postpone, but not unconditionally and not forever. We have to have a vote in March and we have to respect our side to the deal.”

Trump’s latest tariffs, invoked under Section 122 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 and due to take effect on Tuesday, would appear to “stack” on top of any existing most-favored-nation rate. 

This, in the view of Brussels, would be a direct breach of the Turnberry accord and of a subsequent joint statement locking down the deal that, the EU argues, set an “all-inclusive” tariff of no more than 15 percent on most goods.

Not business as usual

The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee had been due on Tuesday to vote through legislation to enable the deal that included specific safeguards, after reaching a hard-fought compromise earlier this month.

One of the safeguards foresaw a six-month review of the deal to ensure that tariffs on products containing steel were lowered to the baseline level. The second would have revoked the deal if Trump again threatened the EU’s territorial integrity, as he did when he proposed to annex Greenland in January.

Cavazzini, a German MEP, said: “The top priority must be to find a solution for the remaining 50 percent tariffs on steel, aluminum, and derivatives. The ball is now in the U.S.’s court. Tariffs are extremely unpopular and have not led to the industrial jobs promised by Trump.”

Croatian MEP Zovko, whose party favors the Turnberry deal, said MEPs should still hold a plenary vote to implement it next month. “If we stick to the deal, we can at least demand something from the Americans,” she said.

Confirming the delay, Bernd Lange, the chair of the trade committee, said: “Business as usual is not an option.” Senior trade lawmakers, known as shadow rapporteurs, will meet again next week to reassess the situation, the German Social Democrat added in a statement.

Only once the Parliament adopts a position would it be possible to hold talks with the other branches of the EU — the Commission and the Council representing its 27 member states — to finally implement the EU’s side of the bargain. This would mainly entail scrapping duties on U.S. industrial goods.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič was due to brief ambassadors from EU member countries later on Monday and EU lawmakers on Tuesday, Olof Gill, the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, said earlier. Šefčovič spoke with Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Saturday.

The EU executive, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member countries, has expressed dismay at Trump’s latest tariff move. 

“The current situation is not conducive to delivering ‘fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial’ transatlantic trade and investment,” it said on Sunday, requesting full clarity from the Trump administration on the steps it intends to take after the Supreme Court ruling.