EU-US trade deal to be called off as Trump announces 10% more tariffs? Here's what we know

A third voting bloc in the European Parliament reportedly said it will halt the ratification of the EU-US trade deal next week. The statement came as US President Donald Trump announced an additional 10 percent tariff on eight European nations over the Greenland takeover.

According to The Guardian, the centre-right and largest group, the European People’s Party (EPP), and the second-biggest bloc of MEPs in the Socialists & Democrats group said they will pull the plug on the parliamentary legal process on Wednesday.

Now, the liberal Renew group has said it will join them.

In a statement, Valerie Heyer, the French MEP and head of the group, said: The threats by President Donald Trump to impose increased customs duties on states refusing to agree with his plan to annex Greenland are unacceptable."

"These announcements follow many other aggressive actions towards the EU. Therefore, it is now time to move from reliance to deterrence. Consequently, Renew Europe cannot vote the EU-US Turnberry trade deal," Heyer was quoted as saying.

Heyer added, "...the EU should be prepared to deploy targeted and proportionate countermeasures. The activation of the EU Anti-Coercion Instrument should be explicitly considered, as it was designed precisely for situations of economic intimidation of this nature."

Meanwhile, Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest voting bloc in the institute, said “approval is not possible” in light of the latest events.

“The EPP is in favour of the EU–US trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, approval is not possible at this stage. The 0% tariffs on US products must be put on hold,” Weber reportedly said.

The second biggest voting bloc, the Socialists and Democrats (S&Ds), supported the remarks. Together they represent 324 of the 720 seats in the parliament and are expected to be backed by the Greens and other groups.

Kathleen Van Brempt, vice president for trade for the S&Ds, was quoted by The Guardian as saying that there could be “no trade deal under given circumstances”.

Besides, German MEP Bernd Lange, who chairs the EU’s influential trade parliamentary committee, said: “In view of the threat of imposing an additional 10% tariff from 1 February, I cannot imagine that we will continue business as usual and I assume that we will suspend our continued work.”

He continued: “For me, there is no question that this is another new step with which the US side does not comply with the Scotland deal.

“We have already discussed intensively in a parliament about our obligation under the deal and were skeptical as to whether we can make US products duty-free if there is no reliability at all on the other side of the Atlantic that the deal will be adhered to. We will discuss this question again with the political groups on Wednesday," he was quoted by The Guardian as saying.

According to Reuters, many lawmakers had earlier complained that the US trade deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the US sticks to a broad rate of 15 percent.

However, freezing the deal risks angering Trump, which could lead to higher US tariffs. The Trump administration also ruled out any concessions, such as cutting tariffs on spirits or steel, until the deal is in place, the report addded.