EU postpones vote on U.S. trade deal after Trump’s latest tariff threat in World Economy News 25/02/2026 Europe warned that its hard-fought trade deal with Washington could now be in jeopardy after President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping 15% tariff on all imports over the weekend, prompting the European Parliament to postpone a planned vote on the agreement, according to Reuters. Trump’s move came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down his global tariffs policy, implemented last spring, that had upset the long-standing global trading order. The president reacted to the Supreme Court’s judgment by initially announcing a new universal 10% levy, using a different legal framework for the latest tariffs, but then increased the global tariff rate to 15% — the legal maximum which can be in place for 150 days before congressional approval is required. The new import duties are “effective immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday. Officials in Europe and London expressed alarm and consternation at the latest upheaval in global trade relations, saying Trump’s new tariff policy could upend trade deals signed with the U.S. last year. They asked for more clarity from the White House as to what the new tariff policy framework means in practice for their respective trade deals, which saw most European Union exports to the States hit with a 15% duty, and those from the U.K. slapped with a 10% levy. “Pure tariff chaos from the U.S. administration,” the chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, Bernd Lange, reacted to the White House on Sunday. “No one can make sense of it anymore — only open questions and growing uncertainty for the EU and other U.S. trading partners,” Lange wrote on social media platform X. “Do new tariffs … not constitute a breach of the deal? Regardless, no one knows whether the US will adhere to it – or even be able to,” Lange said, adding that “clarity and legal certainty are needed before any further steps are taken.” The European Parliament’s trade committee held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss Trump’s latest trade move, and Lange said in a statement that the legislative work was “on hold” following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “The ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States of 20 February 2026 on the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is clear and unequivocal. Its implications cannot be ignored, and business as usual is not an option,” Lange said. “A key instrument used on the U.S. side to negotiate and implement the Turnberry Deal is no longer available,” he added. “The situation is now more uncertain than ever. This runs counter to the stability and predictability we sought to achieve with the Turnberry Deal.” The European Commission issued a statement Sunday noting that “a deal is a deal” and that it expected the U.S. “to honour its commitments … just as the EU stands by its commitments.” CNBC has asked the commission for further comment. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told German broadcaster ARD that there would be “a very clear European position on this” ahead of his visit to the White House in early March, but he deferred to the European Commission in Brussels as to how the EU would respond to the tariffs. However, French Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier suggested that Brussels could hit back at Washington. Speaking to the Financial Times, Forissier urged EU members to not “be naive” and to adopt a united approach ag