The European Parliament has said work on an EU-US trade deal has been halted. Bernd Lange, chair of Parliament’s International Trade Committee and standing rapporteur for the US, said the decision was taken following a meeting of political group representatives.
Mr Lange said the European Parliament had been preparing its official stance on two pieces of legislation linked to the Turnberry Deal, which would have allowed talks to begin with EU governments and put the EU’s commitments under the agreement into law. The Turnberry legislative proposals are the legal measures needed to put the EU-US trade deal into effect, including plans to remove tariffs on US industrial goods and allow more American food products into the EU under a quota system. However, Mr Lange warned that relations had deteriorated sharply in recent months. He said: “By threatening the territorial integrity and sovereignty of an EU member state and by using tariffs as a coercive instrument, the US is undermining the stability and predictability of EU-US trade relations. Today, the shadow rapporteurs of the International Trade Committee echo the European Parliament’s unshakable commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland.
Since late January, President Donald Trump has repeatedly linked his demands over Greenland to tariffs on European countries, threatening to impose new import taxes on allies unless Denmark agrees to let the US purchase or control the vast Arctic territory.
He has said he plans to introduce 10 per cent tariffs on goods from countries including Denmark, the UK, France and Germany from February 1, rising to 25 per cent by June if no agreement on Greenland is reached, arguing the island has strategic and security importance to the United States.
Mr Lange said the escalating situation had made it impossible to continue, adding: “Given the continued and escalating threats, including tariff threats, against Greenland and Denmark, and their European allies, we have been left with no alternative but to suspend work on the two Turnberry legislative proposals until the US decides to re-engage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation, and before any further steps are taken.”
The Turnberry Deal was politically agreed in July 2025 and later set out in an EU-US Framework Agreement aimed at cutting tariffs and easing trade between the two sides.
The legislation is overseen by the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, which leads negotiations with EU governments on trade rules with the United States.
The decision throws the future of the deal into doubt and risks further escalating tensions between Brussels and Washington.
