European Parliament delays decision on EU-US trade deal

BRUSSELS: The European Parliament has delayed until next week a decision on whether to restart work on the EU-U.S. trade deal, after pausing its approval process last week, in protest over U.S. President Donald Trump's push to acquire Greenland and his tariff threats against European allies, according to a senior lawmaker on Monday.

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The European Parliament paused approval of the EU-US trade deal after US tariff threats tied to Greenland.
Tensions eased when Washington announced a framework deal and suspended the threatened tariffs.
The EU-US committee will meet on Feb. 4 to reassess the trade deal, which would cut tariffs on industrial and agri-food goods.

Confirming that no decision was taken on Monday to resume ordinary EU-U.S. legislative procedures, Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, said in a post on X that the Parliament's negotiating team will meet on Feb. 4 to reassess the situation.

On Jan. 21, the European Parliament decided to put on hold approval of the trade deal between the EU and the United States following U.S. threats of tariffs linked to Greenland.

Tensions eased afterward when Washington announced that a "framework deal" had been reached on Greenland-related issues and that threatened tariffs on eight European countries would be suspended.

Under the EU-U.S. trade deal reached in July last year, the EU would eliminate tariffs on all U.S. industrial products and introduce tariff-rate quotas for a wide range of U.S. agri-food products entering the EU market. In return, Washington would set a 15-percent tariff ceiling on most EU goods exported to the United States.