EU lawmakers support EU–US trade deal, with conditions attached

Published connected 26/03/2026 - 11:58 GMT+1•Updated 12:05

EU lawmakers connected Thursday approved the EU-US commercialized woody struck successful Turnberry, Scotland, successful 2025, portion attaching a acceptable of conditions to the agreement.

A wide bulk of governmental groups backed the deal, which cuts EU tariffs connected astir US concern goods to zero, with 417 votes successful favour, 154 against, and 71 abstentions.

The European Commission and Washington had pushed for the deal's implementation, but MEPs delayed backing it until past week amid tensions implicit Greenland and caller US commercialized investigations that raised fears Washington could undermine the woody with caller tariffs.

Initially criticized by MEPs arsenic unbalanced and defended by the Commission arsenic the champion imaginable outcome, the woody sets US tariffs connected EU goods astatine 15%, portion the EU eliminates duties connected astir US concern products.

MEPs introduced safeguards to rebalance the pact successful the lawsuit of aboriginal threats from US President Donald Trump oregon violations by the United States.

“Of course, that's imbalanced, but if we could amended it, possibly we tin unrecorded with it,” Socialist German MEP Bernd Lange said up of the vote.

The European Parliament volition present enactment with EU subordinate states to find a communal presumption and alteration the tariff cuts, with the attached safeguards expected to beryllium the main constituent of contention.

These see a “sunset clause” nether which the woody expires successful March 2028 unless some sides hold to widen it. It besides includes a “sunrise clause” which would marque tariff preferences conditional to the US respecting its Turnberry commitments.

Lawmakers moved to shield the woody from caller US tariffs aft the Supreme Court struck down 2025 US tariffs successful February, prompting the White House to enforce caller duties connected EU goods and motorboat an probe into alleged unfair commercialized practices that could pb to further tariffs.

MEPs besides linked the tariff cuts connected alloy and aluminium to equivalent actions by the US.