European Parliament Gives Conditional Approval to U.S. Tariff Agreement

In a decisive move to implement its side of a transatlantic trade deal, the European Union has pushed forward legislation aimed at fulfilling commitments made with the United States amid months of uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and a fresh US import surcharge.

Lawmakers in the European Parliament approved the measures by 417 votes to 154, with 71 abstentions, but only after inserting a series of safeguards that reflect lingering doubts about Washington’s reliability following the Turnberry, Scotland, agreement reached last July.

Those safeguards include sunrise, sunset and suspension clauses. Parliamentarians also demanded that the US withdraw the 50% duties it imposed a month after the Turnberry accord on the steel and aluminium content of items ranging from wind turbines to motorcycles.

European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic described the vote as a “crucial step,” saying it provides much-needed certainty for EU companies.

The debate in parliament centered on a package that would lift EU import duties on a range of US industrial goods and expand market access for American agricultural products — central elements of the transatlantic deal — while maintaining zero tariffs on US lobster, a concession first secured with Mr Trump in 2020.

But today’s parliamentary approval is not the final act.

Negotiations between parliamentary representatives and EU governments will now refine the legal text, with a concluding approval vote by MEPs expected in April or May.

Parliamentarians’ concerns

The United States is the EU’s largest trading partner, with EU exports to the US reaching a record €555 billion in 2025.

During the pre-vote debate, many MEPs argued the arrangement was unbalanced: the EU would remove most of its import duties while the US would maintain a broadly applied rate of around 15%.

Bernd Lange, chair of the parliament’s trade committee, criticised the package, saying it fell short of what should qualify as a proper agreement.

Belgian Social Democrat Kathleen Van Brempt labelled it a bad deal.

“It does not bring stability. It does not protect us from tariffs, threats and coercion,” she said.

The timetable for the vote had been disrupted earlier in the year after Mr Trump threatened tariffs on European allies over their stance on his proposed acquisition of Greenland and subsequently introduced an import surcharge.

To address those risks, the legislation’s safeguards tie the EU’s tariff reductions to US compliance (a sunrise clause), limit the duration of concessions through a sunset clause that ends the measures on 31 March 2028, and allow the EU to suspend the agreement if Washington violates the terms or if a damaging surge of US imports occurs.