BRUSSELS — An agreement to implement the EU’s trade deal with the United States is on track to be finalized later this month, senior lawmaker Bernd Lange told POLITICO.

Lange, the European Parliament’s top trade negotiator, said an intra-EU deal was within reach, even though the EU institutions failed to reach a compromise in talks that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning.

The meeting between negotiators from the European Commission, EU capitals, and the Parliament took place under pressure from President Donald Trump, who, infuriated by the bloc’s foot-dragging, had threatened to hike tariffs on European cars to 25 percent from 15 percent.

Although the two sides shook hands on the trade deal at Trump’s Scottish golf resort last July, Brussels still hasn’t passed legislation to keep its side of the bargain by scrapping duties on U.S. industrial goods. The accord, criticized by many in Europe as one-sided, foresees a 15 percent U.S. duty on most European exports.

Lange, a German Social Democrat, has pushed to add strong safeguards in case Trump intimidates the EU again, as the U.S. president did earlier this year when he threatened to annex Greenland, a Danish territory.

In an interview on Thursday, Lange said he was confident a deal would be reached at the next negotiating round being held either on May 12 or 19. That would pave the way for a plenary vote in the European Parliament in June — one of the final steps before a law can take effect.

“I guess there will be a conclusion at the next meeting,” Lange said. While parliamentary groups were still discussing when to hold a third and possibly final round of talks, Lange said he was “sure” there would be a plenary vote in June.

Timing is everything

While a majority of centrist and left-wing MEPs had called for additional safeguards to be attached to the deal, the European People’s Party — the largest parliamentary group — broadly supports the deal as originally agreed and wants to put it to an early vote.

“We are close to an agreement on the U.S. trade deal, and we cannot afford further delays,” said Manfred Weber, the chair of the center-right EPP.

An EPP official said that the group was pushing to hold the next round of talks as soon as May 12.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, who had just returned from a meeting with his U.S. counterpart Jamieson Greer in Paris, urged negotiators to reach an agreement that would stabilize trade relations with Washington.

“This significant investment of time and effort suggests that we are making considerable progress and have already achieved a lot — although, of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” Šefčovič said in a social media post after the six-hour negotiating round.

The EU executive was upbeat on the prospects of striking a deal this month.

“We have made substantial progress towards a final agreement. And we do expect that the next trilogue taking place still this month will deliver hopefully a final agreement,” European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said on Thursday.

Sticking points

The EU institutions are still haggling over a so-called sunrise clause, which would make applying the deal conditional on the U.S. reducing its tariffs on products made from steel and aluminum. Another bone of contention is a call by MEPs for a “sunset” clause whereby the deal would expire within two years.

Overall, the European Commission and EU member countries agree that a deal with too many strings attached would be seen as hostile to the U.S. Still, Brussels is stressing that it is ready to react and protect its interests in case Washington reneges on the accord.

On the sunrise clause, Lange said it was vital that U.S. tariffs on products containing steel come down to 15 percent. Lange, who chairs the Parliament’s trade committee, said the question was now “how to integrate it in the proper form into the text.”

The Trump administration tweaked its tariffs on steel and aluminum products in early April, setting rates of 10 to 50 percent on their value, depending on their metal content. The EU Commission has found that nearly half of EU exports containing steel and aluminum are at risk of higher U.S. duties under the new regime.

The Parliament wants the deal to expire on March 31, 2028 — 10 months before Trump is due to leave the White House — while EU countries and the Commission want it to run beyond the end of his term.

“There was an agreement that there will be a sunset clause, and now we are discussing the concrete date,” Lange stressed.

This article has been updated.