The European Parliament is preparing to restart work on key legislation underpinning the EU–US Turnberry trade deal, after a majority of senior
lawmakers signaled their support for moving the process forward.
Bernd Lange, chair of Parliament’s International Trade Committee and its standing rapporteur on US trade relations, confirmed that political group coordinators — known as shadow rapporteurs — agreed on Wednesday to resume work on two stalled legislative proposals linked to the deal.
Speaking after the meeting, Lange said the decision clears the way for a possible committee vote as early as Tuesday, 24 February.
“Trade Committee members remain committed to advancing work on the two legislative proposals expeditiously,” Lange said, stressing that progress remains conditional. He underlined that the United States must continue to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the European Union and its member states, and fully honour the commitments made under the Turnberry agreement.
Security safeguards added
Lawmakers have also agreed to strengthen the proposals by adding a new safeguard clause. Under the revised approach, the EU would be able to suspend tariff preferences granted to US imports if there are threats to the Union’s essential security interests.
These threats would explicitly include risks to the territorial integrity of the EU or any of its member states — a move that reflects growing sensitivity in Brussels to geopolitical and security considerations in trade policy.
“This ensures that trade concessions are not divorced from fundamental security concerns,” one parliamentary source noted, describing the change as a clear political signal rather than a purely technical adjustment.
Background to the Turnberry deal
The Turnberry Deal dates back to July 2025, when the EU and the United States reached a political agreement aimed at easing tariff tensions and stabilising transatlantic trade relations. The details were later formalised in an EU–US Framework Agreement, published in a joint statement in August 2025.
To translate the deal into law, the European Commission put forward two legislative proposals focused on specific tariff measures affecting imports from the US.
The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee is responsible for guiding these proposals through the legislative process and leading negotiations with EU governments on the final structure of customs duties.
With committee work now set to resume, the coming weeks could prove decisive for the future of one of the EU’s most strategically important trade relationships. Photo by Karmakolle, Wikimedia commons.