The warning shot from the European Parliament comes because the 27-nation bloc weighs how onerous to hit again if Trump follows by means of towards Washington’s long-standing allies.
EU lawmakers have agreed to maintain off ratifying a key trade deal with the United States following President Donald Trump’s tariff threats over Greenland.
The warning shot from the European Parliament comes because the 27-nation bloc weighs how onerous to hit again if Trump follows by means of towards Washington’s long-standing allies.
In a press release, Bernd Lange, chair of Parliament’s trade committee, stated, “By threatening the territorial integrity and sovereignty of an EU member state and by using tariffs as a coercive instrument, the US is undermining the stability and predictability of EU-US trade relations.”
“We have been left with no alternative but to suspend work” on the trade deal, “until the US decides to reengage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation,” Lange stated.
The parliament was planning a vote within the coming weeks on eradicating tariffs on US industrial items as half of the settlement.
A delay doesn’t sink the deal, agreed in July with Trump after months of intense wrangling that noticed Washington slap 15 % tariffs on EU items.
But by suspending approval it does ship a robust message of discontent to the White House that EU lawmakers argued would unnerve American companies.
“It is an extremely powerful lever — I don’t think companies would agree to give up the European market,” Valerie Hayer, president of the centrist Renew group, advised journalists.
Trump has threatened to hit six EU international locations — together with powerhouses France and Germany — with tariffs for not going alongside together with his demand to get Greenland.
EU leaders are set to maintain an emergency summit in Brussels Thursday night over the US threats towards Denmark’s autonomous territory Greenland.
The bloc is weighing totally different responses if Trump doesn’t again down, together with placing final 12 months’s trade deal on maintain and hitting the United States with 93 billion euros ($108 billion) in tariffs.
The bundle of retaliatory tariffs was agreed on the peak of the EU-US trade standoff final 12 months, however was in the end suspended till February 6 to keep away from all-out trade conflict.
Beyond that, French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing to unleash the bloc’s potent anti-coercion trade instrument to use in case Trump makes good on his threats.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA workers and is printed from ANI)
