On hold: EU freezes trade pact with US after Trump's tariff over Greenland demand

The European Parliament has slammed the brakes on a landmark transatlantic trade pact after Unites States President Donald Trump imposed fresh tariffs on EU countries amid his push to gain control of Greenland from Denmark.

The move will put the future of last year's transatlantic truce in doubt. The US-EU, signed in July by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, was meant to stabilise trade ties by keeping US tariffs on EU goods at 15 per cent while the bloc dropped duties on American exports.

But momentum collapsed after Washington escalated pressure on Europe over Greenland.

Trump announced an extra 10 per cent tariff on European nations that sent troops in a small deployment to the Arctic island this week. He said the levy would jump to 25 per cent from June 1 and stay in place "until a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland"

European leaders said the deployment followed Trump's own warnings about rising Russian and Chinese activity in the North Atlantic, not an attempt to provoke Washington.

Reacting to the new tariffs, European Council President Antonio Costa said the EU would deliver a "joint response" if the measures stand.

Inside the European Parliament, political groups quickly pulled the plug on ratification. Manfred Weber, who heads the European People's Party, said lawmakers could not back a pact while Trump was issuing threats tied to Greenland.

"The EPP supports an EU–US trade deal, but under the current circumstances approval is not possible. Zero-tariff treatment for US products has to be paused," Weber said in a post on X.

Siegfried Murean, an MEP involved in the process, said the vote had been close at hand before relations deteriorated. The July agreement was designed to cut EU tariffs on American imports to zero.

"We were meant to ratify the EU-US trade deal very soon. Given the new context, that decision will have to wait," he wrote on X.

Others went further, urging Brussels to prepare retaliation. Karin Karlsbro, Renew Europe's coordinator on trade, said Parliament would not give the green light this week and that the bloc should brace for confrontation.

"I see no possibility for the European Parliament to give the green light to move forward with the tariff agreement when we take a decision on Wednesday. Instead, the EU must prepare to respond to President Trump’s tariff attacks, including those targeting Sweden," Karlsbro told Politico.

"We cannot rule out either retaliatory tariffs or the use of the 'bazooka' if the pressure and coercion continue," she added.

Formally known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument, the mechanism will allow the EU to hit back with restrictions on investment, public procurement access and intellectual-property protections against countries that try to strong-arm the bloc on trade.

With tariffs now tied to Trump's Greenland push, EU lawmakers said that a deal once meant to calm a trade war is instead becoming another casualty of it.

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