EU lawmakers are preparing to vote on Thursday in the European Parliament's trade committee on measures to implement portions of the EU-US trade agreement, after pausing work on the file twice because of doubts over whether Washington was meeting its obligations.
The proposals under consideration aim to remove EU import duties on U.S. industrial goods, to improve market access for U.S. agricultural products - a central component of the agreement struck in Scotland last July - and to preserve zero duties on U.S. lobsters, a concession originally agreed in 2020. Passage of the measures requires approval by both the European Parliament and EU member state governments.
A small group of lawmakers decided on Tuesday to advance the matter to a formal vote in the parliament's trade committee on Thursday, a procedural step that is necessary for the legislation to progress, EU lawmakers and officials said.
Many parliamentarians have described the package as uneven - with the EU expected to eliminate most of its import duties while the United States would maintain a broadly applied rate of 15%. Nevertheless, legislators had signalled a willingness to accept the terms provided several safeguards were included, such as an 18-month sunset clause and mechanisms to counteract potential surges in U.S. imports.
The negotiators inserted an additional amendment to introduce a "sunrise clause," which conditions reductions in EU import duties on confirmation that the United States has met its commitments under the deal. EU officials said adding this safeguard helped break the impasse and permitted the committee to move forward.
Swedish Liberal lawmaker Karin Karlsbro, who was present at Tuesday's meeting, said the parliament had taken time to produce what it considered to be a satisfactory text without yielding to pressure to rush.
"We hope that the U.S. will continue to show willingness to stick to the deal. We will not accept higher tariffs than agreed,"
Even if the trade committee approves the text on Thursday, further work remains. Representatives of the European Parliament and of EU governments must still negotiate and agree on a single consolidated text. As a result, the legislation cannot be adopted before at least April.
The committee had previously suspended a vote in January in protest at then-President Trump's reported demand to acquire Greenland and at his subsequent threats to impose tariffs on European allies who opposed him. A planned vote in February was also halted after the United States introduced a blanket 10% import surcharge, a measure that raised the overall duty burden on some EU exports to the U.S.
The vote in the trade committee on Thursday is thus a required step toward parliamentary approval, but not the final hurdle. Lawmakers and officials say the additional conditional language - the sunrise clause - and previously agreed clauses such as the sunset provision and import-surge measures are intended to ensure the EU can respond if Washington does not fully implement its side of the bargain.