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European Union suspends the approval of US trade deal
- Poudre Press Staff
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The European Parliament has suspended the approval of a United States trade deal agreed in July, in protest against President Donald Trump's demand to take over Greenland. The suspension was announced in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday (January 21st), as the US president addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (link). Trade tensions between the US and Europe have renewed, sparked by President Trump's bid to acquire Greenland, and hours later, Trump said on social media, that he would not carry out threats to put new tariffs on eight NATO members. In July (2025), the US and Europe struck a deal at Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland, which set US levies on most European goods at 15%, down from the 30% Trump had initially threatened as part of his "Liberation Day" wave of tariffs in April (2025). To make this deal official, it would still require approval from the European Parliament.
At first, President Trump threatened fresh US tariffs over Greenland, and that led Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, to say, “it left us with no alternative but to suspend work on the two Turnberry legislative proposals,”” (Josephs et al.). Before Trump announced backing off the tariff threat (on Greenland), Lange said there would be "no possibility for compromise" until Trump's threats ended. He also raised the prospect of the use of the "anti-coercion instrument" of retaliatory measures, nicknamed a "trade bazooka," an idea also backed by French President Emmanuel Macron (Josephs et al.).
Over the last year, financial markets have batted away concerns over the impact of the US president's policy announcements, taking comfort in the TACO acronym, Trump Always Chickens Out. In his Davos speech (linked above), Trump repeated his interest in the US acquiring Greenland from Denmark, but said "I don't have to use force, I don't want to use force, I won't use force." He called for "immediate negotiations" with the country about how he could take over the island, which he has argued is crucial for US and global security (Josephs et al.).
The tariffs on the eight European countries (Denmark (Greenland is a territory of Denmark), Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland), if they would have been imposed, were going to go into effect February 1st, 2026, unless those nations allowed the United States to take control of Greenland. The tariff would be 10%, but President Trump added that if those countries had not complied with his demands by June, the tariff would rise to 25%.
*These tariffs are not going into effect now*
The price of gold continues to rise, reaching above $4,842 (£3,604) an ounce (28.35 grams), for the first time. The price of silver is hovering at around $94 an ounce. Precious metals are seen as safer assets to hold in times of uncertainty, and the prices of both gold and silver have soared over the past year.
The transatlantic relationship:
The EU-US partnership is the most significant bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world.
€5.3 trillion: total investments made between EU and US firms in 2022
€4.2 billion+: of goods and services crossing the Atlantic every day
€1.6 trillion: the value of EU-US trade in goods and services in 2024
Works Cited
Directorate-General for Communication. “The EU-US trade deal - European Commission.” European Commission, https://commission.europa.eu/topics/trade/eu-us-trade-deal_en. Accessed 27 January 2026.
Josephs, Jonathan, et al. “EU suspends approval of US trade deal.” BBC, 21 January 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gwp2me3gzo. Accessed 23 January 2026.
Kopack, Steve. “Trump hits 8 U.S. allies with tariffs in push for Greenland deal.” NBC News, 18 January 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-denmark-european-tariffs-greenland-deal-rcna254551. Accessed 27 January 2026.
Kopack, Steve. “Trump pauses Greenland-linked tariffs on 8 European countries.” NBC News, 21 January 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-pauses-greenland-tariffs-rcna255270. Accessed 27 January 2026.
Written by The Poudre Press
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