European Parliament Gives Green Light To Tariff Agreement With US

The treaty prevents the imposition of high duties on European goods.

The European Parliament's International Trade Committee has backed amendments to the EU-U.S. trade agreement, paving the way for ratification of the document.

According to the European Parliament's website.

The U.S.-EU agreement, reached in Turnberry, Scotland, last summer, eliminates tariffs on hundreds of U.S. agricultural and industrial products and prevents the imposition of high duties on European goods.

On Thursday, March 19, members of the international trade committee backed all recent compromise amendments that tightened the terms of the duty suspension. The item was tabled given the U.S. president's announced blanket duties.

"If tariffs materialize, we will immediately suspend legislative work to impose tariff preferences on U.S. goods. Tariff threats against one of us are a threat against all of us," said committee head Bernd Lange.

In addition, the voted amendment contains an action clause. It means that the reduction in EU import tariffs will only take effect if the United States meets its obligations.

In addition, MPs voted to reduce tariffs on EU goods consisting of less than half steel or aluminum from 50% to 15%.

The legislative proposals must now be voted on in the European Parliament at the next plenary session on March 26. This will allow negotiations to begin with EU governments on the final form of the legislation.

Reminder, the European Parliament's trade committee suspended a vote on the EU-US trade agreement in January in protest at US President Donald Trump's demands to hand over control of Greenland.

The second time ratification of the agreement in parliament was delayed in February after Trump announced a general duty of 10 percent and then raised it to 15 percent.

The U.S. leader made the decision in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's Feb. 20 ruling that his sweeping global tariffs announced last April were illegal.

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