After a series of failed attempts, the European Parliament is beginning to approach the ratification of the trade agreement between the European Union and the United States. For the moment, MEPs have taken the first necessary step for the text that includes the “zero tariffs” for Washington to be put to a vote during next week's plenary session.
The last time this process was suspended was as a result of the decision of the United States Supreme Court to declare as an overreach of powers the tariff decisions of US President Donald Trump. “Pure tariff chaos on the part of the US administration. Nobody understands it,” declared the chairman of the internal market committee, Bern Lange, responsible for this file. However, parliamentary sources had been indicating that if the European Union asks for commercial predictability from its allies, it must first comply with its part of the agreement and that involves said ratification.
Brussels insists on stability
At the European Commission, they insist that stability and predictability are key for the continent's companies. “Full respect for the agreement between the United States and the European Union is paramount,” recalls the community trade chief Maroš Šefčovič on every occasion he is questioned.
Despite the fact that, publicly, Moncloa defends that tariffs are not a good instrument of commercial policy, since their effects cause disruption instead “of causing what companies, exporters and importers want”, privately the position is different. Members of the economic part of the Executive share the satisfaction for the step taken today in the Eurochamber, since they believe that in this way the bloc sets an example of predictability in the face of the stumbles of the North Americans.
The processing of the legal text highlights the very instability that the relationship between both powers is going through in the current panorama. The first time the process was stopped was due to the threat of tariff challenge by the United States after European countries offered military support to Greenland in the midst of a declarative escalation. That warning already set off alarms in Strasbourg.
The details of the agreement
It was in the month of July when the head of the community Executive traveled to Scotland to seal an agreement with the United States that stipulated a significant reduction of the tariff barriers that had been imposed initially. The Commission agreed to the application of “zero tariffs” to a range of industrial and agricultural products in exchange for a reduction of barriers to European exports, in an attempt to redirect the relationship.
A pact that was harshly criticized from right to left for being seen as a European “submission” to American interests. This position was being softened in Strasbourg in favor of a diplomatic cordiality between both parties, accepting it as the “lesser evil” given the risk of a greater escalation and an open trade war.
In addition, the text includes energy purchases worth 750 billion dollars, as well as a commitment of 600 billion dollars in investments for the remainder of the US president's term, figures that evidence the strategic dimension of the agreement.
The pending legislative proposals
In response to this agreement reached, the Commission presented two proposals to smooth its implementation. On the one hand, a first law that referred to the elimination of tariffs on American industrial products and to granting preferential market access for a range of U.S. seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products. The second proposed extending the tariff exemption for lobster, which now includes processed lobster, thus broadening the scope of the initial agreement.
It must be the Parliament who approved both proposals so that they could enter into force. As was agreed, once said tariff reductions began to operate, the United States will lower from 27.5% to 15% the tariffs imposed on the 27. “It mutually interests us that both parties fulfill their commitments and guarantee the full application of the agreement,” declared the Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič.
The outcome, for now, remains pending a legal clarification in Washington that allows reactivating a ratification which, as of today, remains at a standstill and under the shadow of a growing transatlantic tension.