European Parliament Halts EU-US Trade Agreement Ratification

The European Parliament decided on Tuesday to suspend the ratification process of the trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, in light of recent threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to an announcement by leaders of the conservative, social democratic, and liberal parties in Strasbourg.اضافة اعلان According to Euronews, the President of the Socialists and Democrats Group, Iratxe García Pérez, told journalists that there is an agreement supported by the majority of political groups to freeze the trade deal reached last year between Washington and Brussels. French President Emmanuel Macron said that the European Union “should not hesitate” to use its anti-coercion mechanism in response to President Trump’s threats to impose tariffs related to Greenland. For her part, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged on Tuesday a “firm” response to the U.S. president’s repeated threats regarding Greenland and increased tariffs. She said: “The European Union and the United States reached a trade agreement last July. In politics, as in trade, a deal is a deal. When friends shake hands, it means something.” She noted that Trump agreed last year not to impose additional tariffs on EU member states, describing the planned new tariffs related to Greenland as “a major mistake, especially between two long-standing allies,” and pledged that the EU’s response “will be firm, unified, and proportionate.” Read More