By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The European Parliament decided on Monday to postpone for a second time a vote on the European Union’s trade deal with the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a new blanket 15% import tariff.
The EU assembly has been debating legislative proposals to remove many EU import duties on U.S. goods, a key part of the deal struck in Turnberry, Scotland, last July, as well as to continue zero duties for U.S. lobsters, initially agreed with Trump in 2020. The proposals require approval by the parliament and EU governments.
Parliament’s trade committee has now postponed a vote planned for Tuesday. Bernd Lange, the committee chair, said the new temporary U.S. tariff could mean increased levies for some EU exports and no one knew what would happen after they expire in 150 days. EU lawmakers will reconvene on March 4 to assess if the United States had clarified the situation and confirmed its commitment to last year’s deal.
This is the second such suspension by lawmakers, who last month halted their work on the deal in protest at Trump’s demands to acquire Greenland.
Many lawmakers have complained that the deal itself is lopsided. However, they had appeared willing to accept it, albeit with conditions, such as an 18-month sunset clause and measures to respond to possible surges of U.S. imports.
The trade deal sets a 15% U.S. tariff rate for most EU goods, apart from those covered by other sectoral tariffs such as on steel, with zero tariffs on some products such as aircraft and spare parts. The EU committed to remove import duties on many U.S. goods.
It is not clear whether Trump’s new 15% tariff supersedes the deal. If it does, the EU’s zero tariff exemptions could disappear. The new tariffs could also be placed on top of pre-existing ‘most-favoured-nation’ U.S. duties, which is not the case under the EU-U.S. deal. So for some cheeses, the new 15% surcharge could bring the overall tariff to about 30%.
Lange said this could mean some 7-8% of EU products facing tariffs above the rates agreed last year.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Julia Payne; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Hugh Lawson)
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