European Parliament suspends work on EU-US trade agreement
Photo: Bernd Lange (Getty Images)
The European Parliament has officially suspended work on approving the trade agreement between the EU and the US due to tariff threats by US President Donald Trump against several European Union countries, according to a statement by Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee and a member of the Social Democrats, on Twitter (X).
According to him, the European Parliament’s negotiating team has decided to put the agreement on hold until further notice. In particular, the committee’s work on the legal implementation of the deal has been suspended.
"Now official: EU-US deal is on hold until further notice! Our negotiating team just decided to suspend work of the committee on the legal implementation of Turnberry deal," Lange said.
He emphasized that the current situation goes beyond purely trade relations and carries strategic significance for the European Union.
"Our sovereignty and territorial integrity are at stake. Business as usual impossible," the MEP stressed.
What led up to it
Recently, US President Donald Trump began talking about his desire to annex Greenland to the United States. He said the island was needed by America for defense. According to him, Greenland is allegedly "surrounded" by Russian and Chinese fleets.
Additionally, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stated that Greenland should become part of the US as part of the American security system. At the same time, he did not rule out a military takeover of the island, though Trump himself said he would not allow a military scenario.
Meanwhile, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he sees three scenarios regarding Greenland in light of Trump’s ambitions toward the Arctic island. Most of these scenarios are negative.
On January 17, Trump announced that starting February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would pay a 10% tariff on all goods supplied to the US, and from June 1, the rate would increase to 25%.
According to him, the tariffs would remain in place until an agreement is reached on the "full and final purchase of Greenland."
More on how Trump is pressuring Europe can be found in the RBC-Ukraine report.
