The European Parliament has officially suspended the US trade agreement ratification, directly responding to President Trump’s threat of 10% tariffs conditional on European support for his Greenland acquisition. This parliamentary action marks the strongest material response Brussels has delivered against what several European leaders characterized last week as blackmail.
Bernd Lange, who heads the European Parliament’s trade committee, made clear that compromise remains impossible while threats concerning Greenland continue. The suspended deal had promised American exporters a new era of zero-percent tariffs on many industrial products entering European markets.
European officials have carefully distinguished between separate agreements, confirming the $750 billion energy purchase commitment remains unaffected. Lange emphasized this energy arrangement operates independently from the tariff negotiations, demonstrating Brussels’ selective approach to the crisis.
The deteriorating diplomatic atmosphere became evident when Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, revised her travel plans following her parliamentary address. She skipped a Davos detour that might have resulted in a Trump encounter, returning directly to Brussels to coordinate emergency summit preparations.
The Thursday evening summit will examine Brussels’ full array of potential countermeasures. Options include deploying €93 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs and activating an anti-coercion instrument never previously used. Originally designed to counter Chinese economic pressure on individual member states, this tool could enable the EU to restrict American businesses from accessing European markets. Potential targets range from technology companies like Apple and Netflix to cryptocurrency platforms, aircraft manufacturers, and agricultural exporters, though European leaders acknowledge consumers might face increased costs or limitations on accessing American products and services.