European Parliament responds to Trump, freezes EU‑US tariff deal

From our correspondent in Strasbourg – Before the EU leaders’ extraordinary summit convened by Antonio Costa for Thursday, 22 January, the first signal to Donald Trump comes from the heart of European democracy. The European Parliament has decided to halt work on implementing the grinding trade‑tariff agreement reached this summer between Brussels and Washington: “If he wants access to the single market at zero tariffs, be reliable,” Manfred Weber, president of the European People’s Party, warns.

The groups of the much‑criticized pro‑European “platform” — the conservatives, socialists, liberals, and greens — agree: the vote on implementing a series of EU regulations designed to carry out the tariff commitments set out in the EU‑US framework agreement, scheduled for next week in the International Trade Committee (INTA), will be scrapped. The decision will be formalised tomorrow, S&D leader Iratxe Garcia Perez confirmed.

“It is the most powerful tool we have at the moment, because it means that there will be no access to zero tariffs on the European single market,” Weber said. “This is the message we are sending from the Parliament’s point of view. Here in this Chamber, there is a common understanding. This is, in a sense, the first step.” The socialist family already has a clear idea of what the second step should be: “We must activate the anti-coercion tool,” Garcia Perez insists, calling on the European institutions to “speak the only language Trump understands, that of power.”

The anti-coercion “bazooka,” a range of measures available to the EU in the event of serious trade threats from third countries, is not the only viable option. For Terry Reintke, co-chair of the Greens, the response to Trump could, for example, involve introducing a digital tax. “We know that the big oligarchs in the United States are very afraid of this,” the group leader points out. 

Trump’s threats to Greenland and the EU have given new vigour to a pro-European alliance that seemed to be dying, while simultaneously cornering the main European allies of the MAGA universe: Giorgia Meloni’s conservatives, Viktor Orban’s patriots, and the sovereignists of Germany’s AfD. “The far right has said nothing about Trump’s attacks on Europe, and this shows how unprepared it is to defend the EU,” Garcia Perez charges. She then immediately turns to the EPP: “Do you want to defend a strong, autonomous and independent Europe? Do you want to defend multilateralism? Then stop negotiating with the far right, which doesn’t utter a word against those who want to destroy Europe.” 

While European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking from the stage at World Economic Forum, described the additional tariffs imposed on those who sent military contingents to Greenland as “a mistake, especially among long-standing allies” and pointed out that “when friends shake hands, it must mean something.” The head of the Democratic Party delegation, Nicola Zingaretti, emphasised that “you cannot engage in dialogue under unacceptable threats or by showing subservience” and called on European governments – whose leaders will meet urgently on Thursday evening – to “rise to the challenge” launched by the European Parliament.