The European Parliament’s trade committee has backed legislation to remove EU import duties on many US goods, moving Brussels closer to fulfilling a trade deal with Washington while adding safeguards against further American tariff pressure.
The vote by the International Trade Committee came as the EU faces a 4 July deadline set by US President Donald Trump for implementation of the agreement reached last year at his Turnberry resort in Scotland. According to Reuters, the committee approved the main legislative text by 31 votes to six, with three abstentions.
The agreement would remove EU duties on many US industrial goods and provide improved access for some American agricultural and seafood products. It would also continue zero tariffs on US lobsters, a concession first introduced in 2020. In return, the United States has capped tariffs on most EU goods at 15 per cent, a level Brussels accepted last year despite criticism from several political groups and industries.
The vote is not the final step. The full European Parliament is expected to vote later in June, after which the Council must formally approve the legislation. But the committee decision is politically significant because it puts the EU on track to meet Trump’s deadline and avoid an immediate escalation in transatlantic trade tensions.
The deal remains controversial because it is asymmetrical. The EU is removing or lowering duties on a broad range of US products, while European exporters continue to face a 15 per cent tariff on most goods entering the American market. That has made the legislation difficult for MEPs who argue that Brussels is offering concessions under pressure rather than negotiating from a position of parity.
The European Parliament has therefore attached safeguards to the agreement. Under the compromise reached with EU governments, the Commission would be able to suspend tariff preferences if the United States fails to respect its commitments or applies tariffs above the agreed 15 per cent ceiling. The text also includes an expiry date at the end of 2029 unless the arrangement is renewed.
Those clauses are intended to answer a central concern in Brussels: that the EU could implement its side of the bargain while Washington retains the political freedom to impose new measures. Trump has repeatedly used tariff threats as a negotiating tool. Earlier this year, EU lawmakers paused the required legislation after renewed threats from Washington, including pressure over issues not directly related to trade.
The latest tension has not disappeared. On 3 June, Bernd Lange, chair of the Parliament’s International Trade Committee, said any additional US tariffs on European goods above the Turnberry agreement would be unacceptable. His comments followed a new US trade investigation that could lead to tariffs of 10 or 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 economies, including the EU. Lange described the investigation as baseless and said the EU had already adopted strict legislation on forced labour in supply chains.
That dispute shows why the committee vote should not be read as a settled transatlantic trade reset. The EU is moving to avoid a tariff confrontation before the July deadline, but it is doing so while trying to preserve the right to retaliate or suspend concessions if the United States changes course.
The European Parliament’s own account of the agreement says the legislation would eliminate most tariffs on US industrial goods and lower duties on selected agricultural and fishery products. But it also makes clear that tariff preferences could be suspended if Washington does not comply with the agreed ceiling. In May, Parliament said the compromise was intended to put EU-US trade “on a more stable footing”, while retaining conditions for EU action if the deal is breached.
For European businesses, the immediate value of the vote is predictability. A fresh tariff clash would add costs for exporters already dealing with higher energy prices, geopolitical disruption and uncertainty over supply chains. Carmakers, machinery producers, luxury goods companies, chemical manufacturers and food exporters all have an interest in keeping access to the US market as stable as possible.
The political cost is that Brussels appears to be managing American pressure rather than shaping the terms of trade. The EU remains one of the world’s largest markets, but the Turnberry deal has exposed the difficulty of defending that leverage when the United States is willing to threaten higher tariffs and when European industries are exposed to the American market.
The decision also comes as the EU is pursuing a tougher trade posture towards China, using anti-subsidy measures, supply-chain tools and industrial-policy instruments to protect European producers. That contrast is uncomfortable for Brussels. Against Beijing, the EU presents itself as willing to defend market rules. Against Washington, it is trying to prevent a dispute with its most important strategic partner, even when the commercial terms are uneven.
The committee vote therefore marks a tactical step, not a full resolution. If the legislation passes the full Parliament and Council, the EU will have met its formal obligations before Trump’s deadline. But the new safeguards show that lawmakers do not regard the agreement as secure. The bloc is lowering tariffs to avoid a trade war, while preparing legal escape routes in case the United States starts one anyway.
