Bernd Lange, who leads the European Parliament’s trade committee, said he plans to propose a suspension of the legislative process to approve the Turnberry Agreement with the United States, pointing to growing legal uncertainty coming from Washington.
In a post on X published on Sunday, Lange described the situation as "pure tariff chaos from the US administration. No one can make sense of it anymore - only open questions and growing uncertainty for the EU and other US trading partners." He said he would request that lawmakers stop further work on the trade pact until the legal position from the U.S. becomes clearer.
The call for a pause follows a recent series of U.S. measures: the introduction of new temporary tariffs and an announcement from the White House that the global tariff rate would be raised from 10% to 15%. Those steps came after a U.S. Supreme Court decision that invalidated portions of an earlier U.S. tariff program that had been based on emergency powers.
Lange warned that the fresh duties could change the parameters on which the Turnberry Agreement was negotiated. He emphasized that "clarity and legal certainty are needed before any further steps are taken," and said he intends to table the proposal at an extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament’s negotiating team on Monday.
The European Parliament has already paused its approval track for the deal at an earlier point this year, after a separate episode of political strain when then-U.S. president threatened to annex Greenland. That previous interruption was cited as an example of how geopolitical tensions have repeatedly complicated progress on the transatlantic trade pact.
The prospect of halting legislative work again underscores the interplay between U.S. trade policy actions and EU decision-making on a high-profile bilateral agreement. Lange framed the measure as a pragmatic requirement for legal certainty before continuing with the formal approval process.
Summary
European Parliament trade chief Bernd Lange will propose pausing legislative approval of the Turnberry Agreement until the U.S. provides clearer legal footing after recent tariff moves and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling undermined parts of an earlier tariff framework.