The European Parliament has suspended the ratification of the trade agreement between the European Union and the United States following recent geopolitical tensions sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s remarks on Greenland.<\/p>\n
Iratxe Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez, President of the Socialists and Democrats, told reporters that \u201cthere is a majority agreement\u201d among political groups to pause the deal, which had been negotiated last year.<\/p>\n
The European People\u2019s Party (EPP), the largest bloc in the Parliament, confirmed that discussions over the trade agreement have been frozen. The deal originally envisioned a 15% tariff on European exports to the U.S. while eliminating tariffs on American exports to the EU. EPP leader Manfred Weber described the EU\u2019s leverage over U.S. market access as \u201cextremely powerful,\u201d a sentiment echoed by Val\u00e9rie Hayer, President of the centrist Renew group, who added that \u201cbusinesses would be unlikely to abandon the European market.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the move is not universally supported. Nicola Procaccini, co-chair of the Eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists, criticized the suspension, calling it \u201cwrong.\u201d Meanwhile, the far-right \u201cPatriots\u201d group, led by French MEP Jordan Bardella, backed the decision to suspend the agreement.<\/p>\n
The suspension effectively prevents the agreement from being ratified and implemented in the short term. Political groups remain divided on potential countermeasures against U.S. threats. While the EPP and Procaccini advocate for de-escalation, other groups support activating the European Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), a tool designed to protect EU interests by restricting access to public tenders or other economic levers\u2014a mechanism often described as Europe\u2019s \u201ceconomic bazooka.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts suggest that the freeze underscores the EU\u2019s growing sensitivity to unilateral U.S. actions that could disrupt trade relations. Analysts note that, while the immediate impact on businesses may be limited, prolonged uncertainty could affect investment decisions and market planning for European exporters.<\/p>\n
The decision also highlights the complexity of EU\u2013US relations, as trade policies intersect with broader geopolitical disputes, signaling potential long-term shifts in transatlantic cooperation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Parliament has suspended the ratification of the trade agreement between the European Union and the United States following recent geopolitical tensions sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s remarks on Greenland. Iratxe Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez, President of the Socialists and Democrats, told reporters that \u201cthere is a majority agreement\u201d among political groups to pause the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/markets.economico.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/w20-182424euw16114352w16174219w30135706w2318544722801-1-696x392.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[186,714,617,211,717,716,614,715],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-eu-us-trade-deal","tag-european-parliament","tag-greenland","tag-political-groups","tag-ratification","tag-tariffs","tag-trade-agreement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":683,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}