Weber (EPP): “I expect the EU-US trade deal to be approved; we cannot afford to waste any more time”

Brussels – “I expect the negotiations to be concluded today. We cannot afford to waste any more time.” This is what the MEP and leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber said during a press briefing held today (19 May) in Strasbourg, on the sidelines of the European Parliament’s plenary session, ahead of of tonight’s meeting between negotiators from the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade and the Council of the European Union to reach an agreement on the EU-US trade deal on tariffs. “So I ask my colleagues to lock themselves in the room, have a good cup of coffee and find a good compromise in the end. The stability and predictability of trade relations between the US and Europe are at stake, and that is why we must achieve a result,” urges Weber. He emphasises: “Being reliable on this agreement also sends a signal to our friends in India, Australia, and the rest of the world that Europe is committed to honouring the agreements we have made.”

A year ago, on 27 July 2025, in Turnberry, Scotland, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, reached a political agreement setting a 15 per cent cap on US tariffs on most European goods. Within the EU, the approval process began in August 2025 with two legislative proposals from the European Commission. The Parliament and the Council have examined and amended them, and must now decide jointly on the final form of both texts. In particular, today they will seek a compromise on some essential safeguard clauses, namely the suspension mechanism, the sunrise and sunset clauses, and the anti-coercion instrument. According to the European Parliament, the agreement should only come into effect if the other party complies with the rules (sunrise); it may be temporarily blocked (suspension) and is in any case subject to a sunset clause. “We have worked hard to achieve this goal, to do so quickly, and it is a pleasure to see that this is actually happening,” Weber reiterates confidently.

The spokesperson for the other major group within the Ursula majority emphasises the need for guarantees. MEP Iratxe García Pérez, chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), emphasises the importance of “ensuring that the European Parliament’s guarantees are respected.” “As regards the agreement with the United States, we are all aware of the role this Parliament must play in the negotiations. We said so when this Parliament adopted its position on the agreement, and now we must continue to negotiate with the Council in the trilogue,” she explains. “Now, I am not directly involved in the negotiations, and therefore I do not know the details of the sunset and sunrise clauses,” but “the S&D position is to support the safeguards necessary to ensure that this agreement is based on mutual respect between the US and the EU. And we have every confidence in our group’s negotiator, Bernd Lange, that he will do everything necessary to ensure that Parliament’s position is respected,” she concluded. 

The Liberals, the third group in the majority, are pressing the same point. “A sunset clause and a strong suspension clause are not ideological demands but essential safeguards for EU companies and operators,” comments Valérie Hayer, chair of the Renew Group in the European Parliament. “We must negotiate with confidence and without fear of threats or artificial deadlines from Washington, because giving in to pressure today would mean giving in tomorrow too, and would result in a Europe that is weaker both economically and strategically,” she adds. For the Liberals, “a robust agreement with credible safeguard measures is the only way to secure a stable majority in the European Parliament and to protect European interests in the long term.”

The Greens have also expressed a desire for guarantees. At a press conference, the group’s co-chair, Bas Eickhout, clarifies that his group of MEPs “needs further clarification on this matter, and this will obviously form part of the negotiations.” First and foremost, “sunrise and sunset clauses and EU enforcement tools are fundamental elements for us,” and “if we do not see progress in the negotiations, there is no reason for us to say yes. The 4 July deadline was set by the US, not the European Union,” he explains.  Furthermore, “following the latest trilogue on tariffs, the US has threatened to raise tariffs on European cars from 15 per cent to 25 per cent” and “this is the kind of coercion we wish to warn against,” he notes. Therefore, “the European Commission has coercive tools and can activate them. If we say yes to this agreement, can we trust that they will be maintained? No, we all know the answer,” he states with concern.

MEPs from The Left, however, are strongly critical of the agreement, with the group’s co-chair, MEP Martin Schirdewan, who describes the agreement as “utter nonsense“, as well as a “confirmation of the EU’s dependence on the United States, both in the digital sector and in trade policy in general.” The group rejects the agreement “in its current form” and believes that the Commission, by refusing to activate the instrument against coercive measures, is pandering to “the pressure exerted by conservatives in Parliament to ensure that this shameful trade agreement is concluded today.” For The Left, “all the tariffs imposed are punitive, and they would like in return to be able to import their goods with total freedom: it is complete madness, and we do not agree”.