EU lawmakers chose not to resume consideration of the legislative package tied to the EU-US trade agreement, saying Washington has not provided sufficient clarity that it will honor its commitments under the deal. The decision was taken by a majority of members of the European Parliament’s trade committee during a meeting on Wednesday.
Bernd Lange, who chairs the trade committee, said the group agreed to revisit the matter next week. Lange pointed to a recent blanket tariff imposed by the United States last month as a principal source of legal and commercial uncertainty for businesses and consumers.
"Businesses & consumers need stable tariff regime & we still don’t have that. Cannot take decisions in a vacuum. Would be irresponsible to adopt legislation without legal certainty," he said in a post on X.
Parliament officials said the European Commission is due to brief lawmakers next week on the status of EU-US trade relations. That briefing will precede a potential vote by the trade committee scheduled for March 18-19, a step required before the European Parliament can advance the legislation connected to the trade pact.
The committee vote has already been delayed twice. The parliamentary debate concerns proposals to remove many EU import duties on U.S. products, a central element of the deal agreed last July in Turnberry, Scotland, as well as measures to maintain zero duties for U.S. lobsters that were first agreed in 2020. For the proposals to take effect they must be approved both by the European Parliament and by EU governments.
Many lawmakers have criticised the agreement as uneven, noting that the EU would be expected to cut most of its import duties while the United States would maintain a broad rate of 15% on its side. Despite such concerns, some legislators had previously been prepared to back the package under specific conditions, including an 18-month sunset clause and safeguards to counter potential surges in U.S. imports.
The parliamentary trade committee had been due to vote on the package in January but suspended that plan in protest after former U.S. President Trump made demands to acquire Greenland and proposed tariffs on European allies who opposed him. A February vote was also paused following the U.S. imposition of a blanket 10% import surcharge, a measure that has increased the total charge on certain EU exports to the United States. Officials have warned that the surcharge could rise to 15% this week.
The committee’s current pause leaves the timetable for parliamentary approval uncertain. Lawmakers will await the European Commission briefing before deciding whether to proceed with the mid-March vote that represents a critical procedural milestone on the path toward implementing the Turnberry agreement.