European Parliament calls emergency meeting over US Supreme Court ruling on tariffs
The European Parliament's International Trade Committee planned to vote on Tuesday on further promoting the ratification of the agreement between the EU and the US. The process had previously been suspended after Donald Trump threatened to annex Greenland.
Committee Chairman Bernd Lange told Bloomberg that the Supreme Court's decision was expected and that the legal basis for the tariffs imposed was incorrect. He wrote on social media that it was now necessary to carefully assess the implications of the decision and its impact on further work on ratifying the agreement.
The trade agreement provides for the abolition of customs duties on most American goods and the establishment of a 15 per cent tariff on products from the EU. The bloc concluded this agreement last summer in an effort to avoid a large-scale trade war and maintain US support in the field of security. The European Parliament planned to ratify the document in March.
Friday's Supreme Court ruling called into question those deadlines and the agreement itself due to the uncertain legal status of the tariffs.
Lange said the judges had shown that even the US president cannot act outside the law.
Even before the court's decision, European MPs had proposed a number of changes to the agreement, including a provision limiting its duration, which raised questions about the document's further adoption.
Following the court's decision, the European Commission announced that it remains in close contact with Washington and is seeking clarity on the US administration's next steps.
