European lawmakers agreed on Wednesday to freeze indefinitely the EU-US trade deal struck last summer, Euronews has learned, ratcheting up pressure on transatlantic relations after US President Donald Trump threatened fresh tariffs on several European countries who reject his insistence that the US should take over Greenland.
The agreement was reached last year after weeks of trade tensions triggered by the aggressive tariff policy Trump rolled out following his return to power. While a political agreement was agreed, the deal still required formal implementation by the European Parliament.
Lead MEPs handling the file met on Wednesday afternoon and decided to suspend the process, officially postponing a vote that had been scheduled for next week in the Parliament’s Committee on International Trade.
Tensions intensified after Trump said on social media that he would impose a 10% tariff from February on Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom until “a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland”. The rate would rise to 25% by June should no agreement be reached.
German MEP Bernd Lange (S&D), who chairs the Parliament’s trade committee, said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump “did not seem to have revised his position” after speaking in Davos. “We will prolong the procedure until there is clarity on Greenland,” he told journalists.
MEPs view the threat as a breach of the EU-US deal, which already imposes 15% US tariffs on EU goods while committing the bloc to cut its own tariffs on US industrial imports to 0%.
Croatian MEP Željana Zovko, who is handling the file for the EPP, told Euronews: “The deal is suspended until we see the willingness of the US to re-engage seriously with us and to stop the tariff threats.”
Lawmakers had been preparing amendments to the deal in the coming days, with many already describing it as unbalanced in the US’s favour. On Saturday, leaders of the Parliament’s main political groups – the EPP, S&D and Renew – had called for the suspension of the agreement.
EU leaders will meet on Thursday night to prepare the bloc’s response to Trump’s threats, which many see as a form of blackmail.
The possible use of the EU’s anti-coercion instrument, also known as the “trade bazooka”, has been raised in recent days by several member states, including France and Germany.
The Parliament is expected to take up the issue on Monday. A source familiar with the discussions told Euronews that lawmakers at Wednesday’s meeting failed to reach agreement, though Lange said he was confident a deal would be found by next week.
This article has been updated with comments from MEPs and developments regarding the anti-coercion instrument.
