Lange: ‘We have other countermeasures ready’ if US disrespects EU deal

Published on

20/05/2026 - 10:17 GMT+2

Hours after negotiators finalised their conditions for a contentious EU-US trade deal agreed to last summer, top European Parliament negotiator Bernd Lange has defended the pace and the scope of the agreement – but warned that Europe will never be out of the woods while US President Donald Trump is in office.

“We had to be really careful,” he told Euronews’ Europe Today programme Wednesday morning. “President Trump really used coercive measures against us. So now we have a safety net.”

Diplomats and MEPs reached an agreement late on Tuesday to implement the contentious EU-US agreement, which eliminates duties on most US industrial goods imported into Europe.