EU Parliament Considers Halting US Trade Deal Amid Greenland Tensions

EU Trade Deal Discussion

By Philip Blenkinsop

Lawmakers' Concerns

BRUSSELS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The European Parliament is considering putting on hold the European Union's implementation of the trade deal struck with the United States in protest over threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to seize Greenland.

Potential Consequences

The European Parliament has been debating legislative proposals to remove many of the EU's import duties on U.S. goods - the bulk of the trade deal with the U.S. - and to continue zero duties for U.S. lobsters, initially agreed with Trump in 2020. It was due to set its position in votes on January 26-27, which the MEPs said should now be postponed.

Leading members of the cross-parliamentary trade committee met to discuss the issue on Wednesday morning and decide whether to postpone the vote. In the end, they took no decision and settled on reconvening next week. A parliamentary source said left-leaning and centrist groups favoured taking action, such as a postponement.

A group of 23 lawmakers also urged the EU assembly's president Roberta Metsola on Wednesday to freeze work on the agreement as long as the U.S. administration continued its threats to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

"If we go through and approve a deal that Trump has seen as a personal victory, while he makes claims for Greenland and refuses to rule out any manner in which to achieve this, it will be easily seen as rewarding him and his actions," the letter drafted by Danish lawmaker Per Clausen said. 

Signatories were mainly fellow members of Clausen's Left Group, but also included centre-left Social Democrats and Greens.

Greens lawmaker Anna Cavazzini said the only argument in favour of the deal was to bring stability.

"Trump's actions show again and again that chaos is his only offer," she said.

French lawmaker Valerie Hayer, head of the centrist Renew Europe group, said on Tuesday the EU should consider holding off a vote if Trump's threats continued.

Many lawmakers have complained that the U.S. trade deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the U.S. sticks to a broad rate of 15%. 

However, freezing the deal risks angering Trump, which could lead to higher U.S. tariffs. The Trump administration has also ruled out any concessions, such as cutting tariffs on spirits or steel, until the deal is in place.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Aidan Lewis)