US committed to EU trade deal, top Trump official tells Brussels

STRASBOURG — A top Trump administration official has reassured Brussels that Washington remains committed to its trade deal with the European Union, amid mounting fears in Europe and the U.S. that the agreement could unravel.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the EU’s trade chief Maroš Šefčovič in a call Monday evening that the United States intends to stick to the deal, three people familiar with the conversation told POLITICO.

Bessent and Šefčovič “regularly discuss a range of trade-related issues. The ambition to fulfill the commitments set out in the joint statement was again reiterated on both the EU and U.S. sides,” a member of Šefčovič’s cabinet told POLITICO. The trade commissioner also spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer this week, they added. 

The outreach came as the European Commission scrambles to convince skeptical lawmakers in the European Parliament to back legislation implementing the EU’s side of the pact struck at the U.S. president’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last summer.

The Parliament has been slow-waking its deliberations on the agreement since the start of the year. Following a Supreme Court decision in late January that overturned much of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda, lawmakers have been pushing for guarantees from the Trump administration that European exports would not face higher tariffs than the 15 percent ceiling set out in the EU-U.S. trade deal.

Center-right and right-wing lawmakers want to fast-track the deal and approve it as soon as possible — but the Social Democrats, liberals and Greens have voted against moving forward, citing the U.S. president’s latest attacks against Spain, strikes on Iran and threats to stage a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.

With the Parliament expected to vote on the deal next week, Šefčovič on Tuesday launched a last-ditch attempt in Strasbourg to convince lawmakers to throw their weight behind the pact, briefing top EU lawmakers on his talks with the Trump administration.

After the trade commissioner’s briefing, Bernd Lange, who hails from the S&D and helms the Parliament’s trade committee, appeared relatively reassured.

Lange said that the lead lawmakers on transatlantic relations would on March 17 assess whether to move ahead to a committee vote on March 19. This would then pave the way for a plenary vote on March 26.

The center-right European People’s Party also sought to convince the centrist majority in the Parliament to go ahead with the vote by proposing a “sunrise clause,” which would ensure that preconditions must be respected by the Trump administration before the trade deal can kick in.