BRUSSELS — The European Parliament has officially suspended legislative work on a major transatlantic trade agreement with the United States, citing a combination of “tariff chaos” and political tensions stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland.
The decision, reported on February 22, 2026, was spearheaded by Bernd Lange, the chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee. Lange proposed the pause on the “Turnberry Agreement”—a deal struck in 2025 to lower tariffs—arguing that recent U.S. actions have created a level of uncertainty that makes legal ratification impossible.
Key Drivers of the Suspension:
- “Pure Tariff Chaos”: The suspension follows a series of fluctuating U.S. trade policies. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of an earlier emergency tariff program, the Trump administration introduced new global levies, raising rates from 10% to 15%. Lange noted that no one can “make sense of it anymore,” creating a vacuum of legal certainty.
- The Greenland Factor: In January 2026, European lawmakers first threatened to freeze the deal after President Trump vowed to impose punitive tariffs on countries that supported Greenland in its refusal to be sold. Trump had threatened levies of up to 25% unless a deal for the “complete and total purchase” of the Danish territory was reached.
- Sovereignty Concerns: EU lawmakers, led by the centrist and left-leaning groups, characterized the U.S. threats as an attack on European sovereignty and territorial integrity. As Danish MEP Per Clausen stated, it would be “extremely strange” to approve a deal while the U.S. continues “aggression” toward a member state’s territory.
Impact on the “Turnberry Agreement”:
Under the original terms of the July 2025 deal, the EU was to eliminate tariffs on U.S. industrial products and increase quotas for agri-food imports. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to cap tariffs on most EU goods at 15%. The current freeze effectively halts these reciprocal benefits, leaving billions of dollars in transatlantic trade in a state of limbo.
The European Parliament’s negotiating team is scheduled to meet again to reassess the situation, but leadership has made it clear that “business as usual” is impossible until the U.S. decides to “re-engage on a path of cooperation rather than confrontation.”
