In 25 years, Bernd Lange never faced such political strain.

The pressure the veteran MEP experienced as the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the EU-US trade agreement was the toughest he has ever experienced, in a career dating back to 1994.

Just weeks ago, Donald Trump threatened fresh tariffs on European cars and set a new, tighter deadline for Brussels to swallow the so-called Turnberry deal. Lange and other MEPs were accused of dragging their feet for selfish reasons, as the centre-right pushed to finish the deal as quickly as possible.

Now, as MEPs finally prepare to cast their final votes on Tuesday to set the EU’s position on the trade deal, Lange, a German social democrat, is equanimous.

“With our safety net now we can demonstrate we are not just accepting everything the United States are doing,” he told Euractiv in an interview in his Brussels parliamentary office, lined with photos of him and his prized collection of BMW motorbikes.

Lange spent months in painstaking negotiations with parliamentary groups as he sought to improve the “unbalanced” deal Ursula von der Leyen struck with Trump in July 2025. Meanwhile, the US side watched, waited, and grew increasingly exasperated.

He led the Parliament in suspending talks over Trump’s threats to Greenland in January, and held firm right to the last, after Trump threatened yet more tariffs on European exports if Brussels didn’t agree a position by 4 July. Lange shot back, bluntly stating that EU laws must not be dictated in “threatening social media posts from Washington”.

“I’m quite relaxed,” said Lange, as a final deal hoves into view. “I’m from the north of Germany, where we have a lot of storms,” he joked.

But he also revealed frustrations about the way the US side negotiated, and a perceived lack of unity on his side of the talks, where party politics too often dominated.

Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, and Jamieson Greer, the trade representative, both told him they were in Trump’s hands when it came to decisions. “Therefore, the rationality we see in other cases of negotiations is not really based there,” said Lange.

On a wing and a prayer

His background in Lutheran theology helped him stay grounded.

Before entering frontline politics, Lange taught high school history, politics, and theology for 11 years in Germany. He has the qualifications to become a pastor, but did not.

“My background in theology gives me some strength to feel accepted,” he said. “I need no success or recognition by others, so I can really go my way. It’s my duty to find a way to avoid conflicts that are harming the people.”

A chasm separates the quiet protestant ethics of Lange’s social democratic outlook and the blustering individualism of the MAGA movement. But Lange found a way to bond with Andrew Puzder, the US ambassador to the EU, over their shared love of motorbikes, and Lange recalled a glorious two-wheeled trip to the US 20 years ago.

Lange’s love for vintage or classic road vehicles knows no bounds. He runs the Historic Vehicles Group, a club where MEPs push for laws to protect the “irreplaceable character” of cars, motorbikes, and other vehicles.

Watch and learn, Congress

Lange, 70, has seen the Parliament change from a spluttering sidecar into a well-oiled legislative machine in the quarter of a century he’s spent as an MEP. In his first stint, from 1994 to 2004, MEPs barely had a say on trade policy.

But with his current unbroken string of mandates dating back to 2009, there is a “new balance of power”. As the leader of the trade committee since 2014, Lange has seen MEPs become key negotiators, to the chagrin of the European Commission and national governments, especially when they say no.

He reserved some criticism for the EU itself. He would not have signed up to the deal that von der Leyen struck, but he grudgingly worked with it because Trump, he said, directly linked Ukraine’s security to tariffs at the summit in Scotland.

National governments went along with it out of “weakness”, and didn’t react to the Greenland threats with countermeasures, because of their own particular interests.

But while Parliament’s influence on trade deals has steadily grown, especially after the 2009 Lisbon treaty, the opposite is happening in the US, Lange argued.

Congress has abdicated its constitutional role in trade policy, due to fear in some Republican camps.

American politicians should draw “inspiration” from the way the Parliament has acted, he said.

(bw, mm)