BRUSSELS — European Union officials said Monday that they were pausing work toward implementing their trade deal with the United States, as they try to understand what President Donald Trump will do after a pivotal Supreme Court ruling.

Last week, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which he had used to reset trading relationships around the world — including with the European Union, which had negotiated for a 15% rate in a deal last year.

Trump moved rapidly over the weekend to replace those levies. But he has now applied a 15% tariff on nations around the world, using a different authority from the one ruled on by the Supreme Court, which stacks on top of existing tariffs. For many producers in Europe, that means the actual tariff they face will be higher than under the deal.

A “whole range of products which are now much higher than the 15% in the old agreement,” Bernd Lange, a German member of European Parliament and chair of its international trade committee, said Monday.

Lange’s committee was meant to vote on the trade deal with the United States on Tuesday, but decided to put that on hold until there was greater clarity.

He pointed to products such as European cheese: U.S. importers already paid 15% tariffs on Parmesan and Camembert cheese before last year’s trade deal. Under the trade deal, cheese was capped at 15%. But now, the existing rate will be added to the new 15% levy, making for a tariff of nearly 30%. Plus, Lange pointed out, it is not clear what Trump’s administration will do next. The tool that Trump is now using to keep tariffs at 15% only lasts 150 days, after which Congress would need to approve an extension.

“This is so uncertain,” Lange said. “It’s unclear if there will be additional measures.”

‘Full Respect’ for the Trade Agreement

EU officials have been clear that they would like to stick by their trade deal. Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s trade commissioner, wrote on social media that “full respect” for the trade agreement is “paramount.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU’s executive arm, made the rough agreement with Trump last year during a meeting at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland.

The package has been unpopular in Europe: From the start, it was widely seen as an unbalanced agreement that favored the United States.

But many policymakers have concluded that it was probably the best deal they could have achieved. The agreement capped tariffs on most products at 15%, while Europe managed to hold firm on key red lines, including leaving its digital services regulations unchanged.

The problem now is that the situation has changed, and the Trump administration has suggested that more adjustments could come.

Administration officials have suggested that they could use other powers, including investigations based on national security over digital regulations or other issues, to maintain high tariffs.

Trump, for his part, warned American trading partners not to “play games” in response to the Supreme Court decision, writing in a post on Truth Social on Monday.

He said that nations that do “will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jeanna Smialek/Lea Meienberg
C. 2206 The New York Times Company