EU halts trade deal with US in major stand against Donald Trump | World | News
Work on the EU-US trade deal has been halted, the European Parliament said. Bernd Lange, chairman of the parliament’s International Trade Committee and permanent rapporteur for the United States, said the decision was taken after a meeting with representatives of political groups.
Mr Lange said the European Parliament was preparing its formal position on two pieces of legislation linked to the Turnberry Agreement, which would allow negotiations to begin with EU governments and put into law the EU’s commitments under the agreement. The Turnberry bills include legal measures needed to implement the EU-US trade deal, including plans to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods and allow more American food products to enter the EU under a quota system. But Mr Lange warned that relations had deteriorated sharply in recent months. He said: “By threatening the territorial integrity and sovereignty of an EU member state and using tariffs as a coercive tool, the US is undermining the stability and predictability of EU-US trade relations. Today the shadow rapporteurs of the International Trade Committee reflect the European Parliament’s unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland.”
President since the end of January Donald Trump It has repeatedly linked its demands for Greenland to tariffs on European countries, and has threatened to impose new import duties on its allies unless Denmark allows the United States to purchase or control the vast Arctic region.
Claiming that the island is strategically and security important for the United States, he said that he plans to impose a 10 percent customs duty on goods coming from countries such as Denmark, England, France and Germany as of February 1, and that if no agreement is reached on Greenland, it will rise to 25 percent by June.
Mr Lange said the escalating situation made it impossible to continue, adding: “Given the ongoing and escalating threats, including tariff threats, to Greenland, Denmark and its European allies, we are left with no choice but to suspend work on the two Turnberry bills until the United States decides to re-enter the path of cooperation rather than conflict and before further steps can be taken.”
The Turnberry Agreement was politically agreed in July 2025 and was later set out in an EU-US Framework Agreement aimed at reducing tariffs and facilitating trade between the two parties.
The legislation is overseen by the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, which is leading negotiations with EU governments on trade rules with the United States.
The decision casts the future of the agreement into doubt and risks further escalating tensions between Brussels and Washington.
