European Union lawmakers on Thursday gave a green light to the bloc's trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, but with safeguards as Europe hopes to salvage its relations with Washington while also racing to diversify its ties around the globe.
Brussels and Washington last summer clinched a deal setting tariffs at 15% for most EU goods.
But Trump's 2025 tariff blitz, including hefty levies on steel, aluminum and car parts, jolted the 27-country bloc into cultivating trade ties around the world, and it has since signed deals from South America to Australia and continues to pursue others.
But that doesn't mean the EU intends to walk away from its 1.6 trillion euro ($1.9 trillion) relationship with its largest trade partner, the U.S.
A large majority of EU lawmakers agreed to cut EU tariffs on some U.S. imports, as a first step toward implementing the 2025 deal, but with additional safeguards.
"Today's vote is an important procedural step and a political signal that the EU stands by its word," EU economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis said in a parliamentary debate Thursday before the vote.
Before the U.S. tariff deal is implemented by the bloc, it still needs to be negotiated with EU states, although Brussels hopes talks will go quickly.
EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic welcomed the move as a "crucial step" and said he would meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Cameroon on Friday.
The green light comes after months of delay as lawmakers resisted approving the accord due to transatlantic tensions over Greenland, and then put it on hold again following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down many of Trump's levies.
The ball started rolling again after the European Commission, in charge of EU trade policy, said it would stick to the pact despite the U.S. ruling and called on lawmakers to do the same, having received reassurances from Washington.
Trump, however, retaliated after the ruling with a new tariff regime, pushing EU lawmakers to tighten the existing agreement with numerous safeguards.
Lawmakers added several provisions in response, such as making the EU's tariff reductions automatically lapse in March 2028, and tying tariff cuts on steel and aluminum goods to similar reductions by the U.S. side.
"Let's not be naive. More Trump coercion and chaos will come, and that is exactly why we say today no free pass, no blank cheque," EU lawmaker Kathleen Van Brempt said during Thursday's debate.
It is the EU's vulnerability to the consequences of wars and other shocks that has pushed Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to make diversifying trading partners a priority, to cut overdependence on the U.S. and China.
The frenzy began with a long-awaited accord signed with the South American Mercosur bloc in January. Weeks later, Brussels struck another pact with India and just this week clinched a stalled deal with Australia.
"The Trump factor sped up their conclusion, for us as well as for our partners," economist Andre Sapir said.
Spurred by Trump, Sapir says the EU is pushing to create the world's largest network of free trade areas, a strategy with a "defensive dimension" allowing it to resist trade "coercion."
"This free trade network carries weight in our discussions with the two giants, the United States and China," he said.
"These agreements are part of our arsenal," Sapir, of the Bruegel think tank, added. "Our strategic weapons in the international order."
