EU lawmakers demand safeguards before backing US trade deal

Lawmakers in the European Parliament have approved a set of safeguard measures tied to the EU–US trade arrangement agreed last summer, signalling a more cautious approach to implementing the deal reached between Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump.

The vote backed proposals put forward by Bernd Lange, chair of the parliament’s international trade committee, concerning the agreement concluded at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. Under that arrangement, the European Union agreed to remove tariffs on a wide range of US goods, while the United States imposed a 15 per cent tariff on many European imports and maintained 50 per cent duties on steel and aluminium, as per The Guardian report.

Because the European Parliament must approve the reduction of EU tariffs, lawmakers have twice delayed their consent. The first pause followed Trump’s remarks about annexing Greenland, and the second came after a US Supreme Court ruling that declared the president’s tariffs unlawful.

Presenting the motion on Thursday, Lange stressed that the Turnberry deal does not constitute a formal trade agreement. “An agreement that we negotiate has commitments and safeguards and a dispute settlement mechanism … now all of that is not in the deal from Scotland,” he said.

Parliament ultimately voted to condition its approval on stricter terms. Lawmakers said they would only accept zero tariffs on US goods if hundreds of European products containing steel and aluminium are exempted from the US’s 50 per cent tariffs on those metals.

The issue has drawn strong criticism from European industry, particularly after the Trump administration expanded the scope of higher tariffs to 407 product categories following the Turnberry deal. These range from wind turbines to furniture, raising concerns that the list could continue to grow.

Additional safeguards adopted by lawmakers include provisions to reintroduce EU tariffs if Washington imposes new trade measures against the bloc, as well as a sunset clause that would terminate the agreement by March 31, 2028.

Lange’s amendments passed with 417 votes in favour, 154 against, and 71 abstentions.

A separate amendment from the radical left seeking to reject the deal outright failed to gain sufficient support. Martin Schwirdan of Germany’s Die Linke, a co-leader of the left group, criticised the agreement, saying, “This is not a fair deal. This is blackmail.”

Sophie Wilmès, vice-chair of the parliament’s delegation for relations with the United States, also voiced concern about Washington’s approach. “As the US administration lacks either the capacity or the willingness to guarantee even this minimum, it is up to us, Europeans, to put our own safeguards in place to protect ourselves from the chaos of US tariff policies, and even from certain threats,” she said.

By Tamilla Hasanova