European Parliament Committee Backs Ending Tariffs on Some U.S. Goods

A European Parliament committee has backed the removal of EU import duties on a range of American goods, Reuters reports.

The measure is part of a trade agreement struck last year by Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Under the terms of the deal, the EU agreed to scrap tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and grant preferential market access to American agricultural products and seafood. In exchange, Brussels accepted U.S. tariffs of 15% on most goods from the EU.

Ten months later, however, the European Union still has not fulfilled its part of the agreement. Against that backdrop, Trump said he would impose “much higher” tariffs if the EU did not implement the deal by July 4.

Implementation was later delayed after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on European allies over the situation around Greenland, and after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his global tariffs.

“The EU’s progress in implementing the deal should at least bring some calm to the world’s largest trade relationship, worth $2 trillion a year in goods and services, despite Trump’s push to use tariffs to reduce a goods-trade deficit with the bloc of more than $200 billion,” Reuters notes.

The bill still needs approval by the European Parliament in mid-June.