European Parliament Again Delays Approval of U.S. Trade Deal... "Uncertainty Widening Again"

The European Parliament has once again put on hold the ratification process for the trade agreement concluded between the European Union (EU) and the United States in July last year.

Reuters and Yonhap News

Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, said in a statement on the 23rd (local time) that uncertainty in the trade environment had grown again after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that reciprocal tariffs were unlawful and President Donald Trump subsequently reaffirmed his plan to impose a flat 15% global tariff.

Chair Lange said, "The current situation is more uncertain than ever and stands in direct contradiction to the stability and predictability we sought to achieve through the Turnberry Agreement last year." He added, "We have agreed to suspend legislative work until clarity, stability, and legal certainty are re-established in our trade relations with the United States."

As a result, the vote on the trade agreement, which had been scheduled for the 24th, has been postponed yet again. The trade committee plans to reassess the situation next week.

This is the second time, following last month, that the European Parliament has delayed approval of the agreement. Previously, after President Trump hinted at imposing additional tariffs on eight European countries over the issue of Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, the European Parliament abruptly suspended the ratification process. The procedure was expected to resume after President Trump withdrew his threat of additional tariffs and stated that he would not resort to military means.

In July last year in Turnberry, Scotland, the EU and the United States agreed that, in exchange for the EU investing 600 billion dollars in the United States, the reciprocal tariff rate applied to EU member states’ exports to the U.S. would be reduced from 30% to 15%.

Meanwhile, President Trump warned on his social media platform Truth Social that "countries that use the Supreme Court’s ridiculous ruling to play tricks against the United States will face tariffs far higher than those agreed to recently."