BRUSSELS — The European Parliament voted on Thursday to approve a trade deal between Washington and Brussels, but with amendments added to protect European interests should the United States fail to uphold its end of the bargain.

The deal was negotiated last July in Turnberry, Scotland, by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

It set a 15 percent tariff on most goods in an effort to stave off far higher import duties on both sides that might have sent shockwaves through economies around the globe.

The green light comes after months of delay, as lawmakers resisted approving the accord amid transatlantic tensions over Greenland.

There were two votes to introduce clauses to the deal. One passed 417-154, and the other 437-144, with dozens of abstentions in each.

The added safeguards include a sunrise clause that makes EU import duty reductions conditional on Washington honoring its side of the bargain, and a sunset clause under which the tariff concessions expire on March 31, 2028.

New language now also says that the deal can be suspended if Washington "undermined the objectives of the deal, discriminated against EU economic operators, threatened member states' territorial integrity, foreign and defense policies, or engaged in economic coercion".

The deal will now be further negotiated by EU trade representative Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart Jamieson Greer, who are meeting on Friday on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon.

"We need the EU-US deal in force on both sides — delivering real certainty for EU businesses and showing that genuine partnership gets results," Sefcovic said after the vote in Brussels.

Politicians' concerns

The US is the EU's largest trading partner, with EU exports to the US rising to a record 555 billion euros ($641 billion) in 2025.

In a debate before the vote, many parliamentarians said the trade deal was lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the US would keep a broad 15 percent rate.

"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 check," EU lawmaker Kathleen Van Brempt said during Thursday's debate.

Bernd Lange, the chair of the parliament's trade committee, said it was not really an agreement at all. Belgian Social Democrat Kathleen Van Brempt called it a bad deal.

"It does not bring stability. It does not protect us from tariffs, threats and coercion," she said.

Earlier this week, Andrew Puzder, the US ambassador to the EU, told the Financial Times that the EU would risk losing "favorable" access to US liquefied natural gas under the trade agreement if it attempted to modify other terms.

Sophie Wilmes, vice-chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the United States, said that as the US administration lacks either the capacity or the willingness to provide a minimum degree of stability and predictability for transatlantic trade, "it is up to us, Europeans, to put our own safeguards in place to protect ourselves from the chaos of US tariff policies, and even from certain threats".

The approval comes after months of delay, as lawmakers resisted endorsing the deal amid transatlantic tensions over Greenland in January. The approval marks the first step toward implementing the 2025 deal, and the bloc still needs to negotiate with member states before it can be put into effect.

Agencies - Xinhua