EU lawmakers look set to vote this week on legislation to enact parts of the EU-US trade deal after twice suspending their work because they did not believe the US was sticking to its side of the agreement.
The European Parliament has been debating proposals to remove EU import duties on US industrial goods and improve access for US agricultural produce, a key part of the deal struck in Scotland last July, as well as to continue zero duties for US lobsters, initially agreed with Trump in 2020. The proposals require approval by the parliament and EU governments.
Many lawmakers have said the trade deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the US sticks to a broad rate of 15 per cent. However, they had previously appeared willing to accept it, albeit with conditions, such as an 18-month sunset clause and measures to respond to possible surges in US imports. Now the lawmakers have added a further amendment to introduce a “sunrise clause” to make EU import duty reductions conditional on Washington fulfilling its side of the bargain. Two EU officials said yesterday that this looked likely to have broken the deadlock.
After the EU legislators’ vote, representatives of the European Parliament and of EU governments will still have to negotiate a common text, meaning the legislation will not be passed until at least April.
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