MNI: EP Still Hopeful On EU-US Trade Deal Despite Tensions

The European Parliament’s biggest political group the centre-right EPP remains confident it has the numbers to revive consideration of the stalled EU-U.S. trade deal despite the announcement by the U.S. of a Section 301 probe into the EU and other countries, and continuing scepticism from the Socialist group, parliamentarians and parliamentary officials told MNI.

A senior parliamentary official noted that the European Parliament has demonstrated its confidence that legislation for the deal, which was suspended following the U.S.’s diplomatic grab for Greenland in January, will resume its progress by provisionally scheduling a vote in the end-March mini-plenary session. That will follow a vote in the INTA (Trade) Committee hopefully next week. 

"There is an understanding on substance, so I do expect it to pass," a senior EP official said, noting that there were no protests when the decision to pencil in the plenary vote was agreed on Thursday morning.   

However, leading members of the parliament’s second-biggest political bloc, the Socialists and Democrats, such as Trade Committee Chair Bernd Lange and Chair of the EP's U.S. Delegation Brando Benifei, are still seeking more assurances from the Trump administration that it will not go back on commitments made in the so-called U.S.-EU Turnberry agreement on tariffs reached in August 2025.

"We are working constructively but we need a political signal on the willingness to respect the deal. We still miss that," Benifei told MNI.

Benifei and Lange head to Washington March 18-20 in the hope of getting firm assurances from USTR Jamieson Greer and other U.S. officials, and Benifei struck an upbeat tone on his chances.

"Hopefully, we'll get it [assurance] even before but otherwise the trip will be useful for that too, he added. (See MNI POLICY: EC Moots Swap Lines In Trade Deals To Boost Euro)

COMMISSION LOBBYING

Meanwhile, the European Commission is doing its best to convince the EP that prompt approval of the deal is the right decision, a former EU diplomat who has been closely following the trade legislation said.  

"The Commission is trying to depoliticise and redirect the probe towards China, while quietly signalling that tariffs based on the [301] investigation would trigger retaliation," the second source said. “I still expect it will go through." 

Trade Committee Vice Chair Iuliu Winkler told MNI, "I think we should go ahead. But also we need some guarantees on the U.S. side. Guarantees we will not have, so we in the EPP are considering a 'sunrise clause'. It's very controversial." 

The idea is that the trade deal would only come into force once the U.S. has satisfied the EU that there will be no backtracking on the agreement.

U.S. companies in Europe, meanwhile, have called for the EU and U.S. to avoid a potentially damaging escalation of trade tensions following Wednesday's Section 301 probe announcement into industrial overcapacity in several economies, including the EU.

"The deal struck in the summer is not a perfect solution, but it offers the most realistic path forward given political priorities on both sides," AmChamEU said in its statement. 

Even if the parliament votes to restart the legislation in the coming weeks, EP officials note that further negotiations with EU states and the Commission will most likely last months, maybe even until June. A final vote in the INTA Committee and in the EP could happen before the summer break, but actual implementation may not occur until the autumn.