The European parliament on Tuesday approved a long-delayed trade deal with the US, heading off Donald Trump’s threat to impose higher tariffs on cars unless the agreement was ratified by July 4.
EU lawmakers agreed by 440 votes to 151 to cut the bloc’s own levies on American industrial goods and some agricultural products to zero while the US will charge higher tariffs on European goods.
The original deal struck in Turnberry last year between the US president and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen set a 15 per cent tariff rate on EU goods. But the Supreme Court subsequently ruled the tariffs illegal, forcing Trump to rely on temporary emergency legislation to impose a 10 per cent levy on top of existing duties, meaning cheese and some other products now face tariffs exceeding 15 per cent.