The trigger was a US Supreme Court ruling last Friday. It was established that the tariffs imposed by President Trump on many countries had been levied unlawfully.
The Parliament's chief negotiator, German social democrat Bernd Lange, said the legal basis has changed compared to the deal struck last summer in Turnberry. According to him, more legal certainty is needed first.
Rejection
The rejection of the previously imposed import penalties by the highest US judges was a sensitive political setback for President Trump. He is now trying to impose other import duties on different legal grounds, but doubts remain about their sustainability.
Promotion
After the Supreme Court ruling, President Donald Trump raised global import tariffs to 15 percent. He is allowed to impose this rate for 150 days under Article 122 of the US Trade Act.
According to Lange, this is not a base rate but a surcharge on top of existing import duties. Because of this, he said many elements fall outside the previously concluded agreement with Scotland.
A Deal is a Deal
The so-called Turnberry agreement would require Brussels to abolish import duties on a range of US agricultural and industrial products. In return, the EU would pay a general tariff of 15 percent on most products exported to the US.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič called on Parliament to vote on the agreement as planned in March. At the same time, he acknowledged that more clarity is needed about the agreed all-inclusive 15 percent tariff. “A deal is a deal and we must respect it,” he emphasized.