Parliament approves Washington deal while fresh trade threats emerge
The European Parliament has cleared the final hurdle to lowering tariffs on US agricultural and industrial products, a key step towards implementing the trade pact between Washington and Brussels agreed last summer.
The deal was approved during a plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, with 440 votes in favour, 151 against and 50 abstentions.
The Parliament’s lead negotiator, veteran German MEP Bernd Lange, had wrangled for months with parliamentary groups and national governments over introducing additional safeguards to the tariff removals, which are conditional on a 15% blanket tariff on EU exports to the US.
A political agreement was reached in Strasbourg last month, empowering the Commission to suspend the deal if the US fails to comply with its commitments, notably if it maintains tariffs higher than 15% on steel and aluminium products or introduces additional trade measures.
