The EU gets stuck in the ratification of the trade agreement with the US despite Trump’s threats

BrusselsMost member states and the European Commission want to apply the trade deal closed with the United States last summer as soon as possible to prevent Donald Trump from having any excuses to further increase tariffs against the European Union. However, some partners, especially France, and the European Parliament want to include a series of safeguard clauses in the pact with the White House. These disagreements are keeping the negotiations between European institutions to ratify the pact at a standstill, while the President of the United States pressures the EU to approve it definitively and threatens with new customs duties on European cars.

France and most parliamentary groups in the European Parliament want to try to get Trump to lower his tone against the European Union and, above all, to break the trade deal without any consequences. For this reason, they ask that the pact include a clause that guarantees that the pact automatically ceases to be in force if the United States threatens the sovereignty of the European Union, as was the case with Trump’s desire to forcibly invade Greenland, which is part of Denmark.

On the other hand, the European Parliament wants to include the condition that Trump reduce tariffs on the European steel sector, which are at 50%, once and for all. It should be recalled, however, that steel and aluminum were left out of the agreement signed between Brussels and Washington last summer, although it is one of the European Union’s demands to the US.

The European Parliament also calls for the inclusion of an automatic break clause which, in the event that the North American power fails to comply with the agreement, would cease to apply, without the need for an assessment by the European Commission or the member states. Furthermore, the European Parliament wants the pact to expire precisely at the moment Trump ceases to be President of the United States.

For their part, both the European Commission and the majority of state governments –including the Spanish one– and the European People’s Party (EPP) –the political force with the most representatives in the European Parliament– want the pact to be processed and enter into force before Trump threatens new tariffs. In this regard, Brussels always maintains that, in the event that the US administration fails to comply with the pact, it could decide to cease applying it at any time.

A cursed agreement

The agreement reached between Brussels and Washington already provoked the criticism of numerous European leaders, who considered it a concession to have accepted that the US apply tariffs of 15% to European products while the EU applies no customs duty to US imports. Nevertheless, the European bloc accepted it to try to curb the trade war and Trump’s threats.

However, the President of the United States has not stopped humiliating and threatening the EU, and in fact, the European Parliament has already postponed the vote on several occasions due to Trump’s disrespect. In any case, diplomatic sources indicate that the next meeting to negotiate the pact between the member states, the European Parliament, and the European Commission will take place on May 16 in Strasbourg, and they hope it can enter into force before the end of the year.

Trump was again adding pressure on the Europeans in a new publication on Truth Social and has threatened to increase tariffs on the EU if it is not able to ratify the trade agreement before July 4. The tycoon also demands that they eliminate any tariffs on American products. “The promise was made that the EU would fulfill its part of the agreement and, according to the pact, would reduce its tariffs to ZERO! I have agreed to give him leeway until the 250th anniversary of our country or, unfortunately, your tariffs will immediately rise to much higher levels,” he wrote. The president also stated that he has spoken with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “We have discussed many issues, including that we are completely united in the fact that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. We have agreed that a regime that kills its own people cannot control a bomb that can kill millions of people,” he said.