Trump’s promises do not convince in Brussels – the trade agreement is stuck

On Monday, the EU Parliament’s international trade committee did not give the green light for moving forward with the trade agreement between the EU and the United States.

Many in the European Parliament are fed up with the US president Donald Trump’s to rapid turnarounds and trust in the United States has decreased.

On Wednesday of last week, the parliament decided to freeze the agreement as a response due to the US’s threats to Greenland. In practice, freezing means that the agreement signed by the EU and the United States last summer will not be carried forward until it is decided otherwise, in which case the United States will not get the zero tariffs it wants.

The EU, on the other hand, already has 15 percent tariffs on most of the Union’s exports to the United States.

However, Trump announced later on Wednesday, i.e. after the parliament’s freeze decision, that the United States does not intend to use force to occupy Greenland. At the same time, the country also canceled the additional tariffs it had threatened on Finland and seven other European countries.

After the acute threat to Greenland subsided, the president of the European Council Antonio Costa and Speaker of Parliament Roberta Metsola hoped on Thursday that the agreement would be carried forward.

However, some of the parliamentary groups still have reservations about the issue.

For example, the chairman of the Parliament’s Social Democrats (S&D). Iratxe Garcia stated that decisions should not be rushed and mere words are not enough as promises from the United States.

According to the Renew group, more information is still required.

A member of the coalition Mika Aaltolan According to (EPP), the EU Parliament should create a mechanism in which tariffs on American products are restored if something surprising comes from the direction of the United States.

“Because Trump is unpredictable and can raise tariffs in a bad mood, the parliament must secure the EU’s hand,” says Aaltola.

The Kokomusmeppi thinks that it would be good if the parliament could review, for example, within a year, whether Trump’s promises have been kept.

According to information from Kauppalehti, parliamentary groups are trying to find some kind of compromise that would include the security mechanisms described by Aaltola. However, according to parliamentary sources, finding an agreement is not certain and it will move to next month.

The matter was fixed at 22:35. The date of a possible compromise has been specified from next week to the middle of next month.