EU halts trade vote: Lawmakers insist US must respect deal in tariff probe limits

European Union senior lawmaker Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament's Trade Committee, reportedly announced on Thursday that the United States must honor the existing EU-US trade deal, which recreated essential trade links between the two sides in Scotland last year.

In line with Bernd Lange’s viewpoint, the launch of new Section 301 investigations into unfair trade practices was already expected; however the launch provided no crystal-clear commitment from the US administration to comply with the agreement struck at US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course, as reported by the Reuters.

In this connection, Lange wrote on social media platform X that the European Parliament is still deliberating whether to vote on the deal: “We will see where the investigations lead to, but anything that departs in substance from the Turnberry Deal will not be acceptable.”

The US launched new investigations into unfair trade practices as a large number of people argue that these investigations are a backdoor to passage to bypass the tariffs implemented last summer. If the US does not agree to commit to the current agreement, the EU is all set to trigger its economic deterrent tool and start billions in retaliation.