European Parliament freezes US trade deal ratification

The main political groups in the European Parliament agreed on Tuesday to freeze the ratification of the latest trade agreement with the US, following President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries that oppose the US annexation of Greenland.
 

This comes after the European Parliament had planned to vote in the coming weeks on lifting tariffs on certain US products as part of the agreement.
 

For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced France’s support for the decision to suspend the European Parliament’s ratification of the trade deal.
 

In a speech before the French Parliament, he stated that “the threat of imposing tariffs is being used as a means of blackmail to extract unjustified concessions,” adding that the European Commission has “very powerful tools” to respond to Trump’s threats.