EU-US trade deal on hold over Greenland spat
European Parliament lawmakers have declined to resume ratifying a key trade agreement with the US, which they suspended last week amid the dispute over Greenland.
The decision on whether to unfreeze the Turnberry Agreement was postponed until next Wednesday, trade committee chair Bernd Lange said after a closed-door debate on Monday. Lange cited lingering uncertainty about a NATO “framework” for US access to the Danish autonomous island and its mineral resources, which has eased but not resolved tensions with Washington.
US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of trade tariffs against nations opposing his bid to acquire Greenland following a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last Wednesday. In response to Trump’s earlier pressure, MEPs had shelved ratification of the trade deal initially unveiled by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland.
Accounts differed among meeting participants over whether there was consensus to move forward quickly or to adopt a tougher stance that could provoke Trump. Some reportedly urged the European Commission to prepare to activate the Anti-Coercion Instrument – dubbed the “trade bazooka” – if the conflict reignites.
The Trump administration has used coercion and threats of military action to advance American foreign policy goals, including against US allies. During the recent escalation coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the global elites gathering in Switzerland that the US-led “rules-based order” was always “partially false” and that Western nations had agreed to “live within a lie” to “avoid trouble.”
Russia has long argued that Western European countries’ military and economic dependence on Washington undermines their sovereignty. Moscow has distanced itself from the Greenland dispute, calling it a matter between the US and its fellow NATO members.
