ROME (ITALPRESS) – On tariffs “we are not playing a waiting game. First, because we are Europe’s best ambassadors to the United States, because of the excellent relations we have built. Second, because we know how to react.” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says this in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
Should U.S. President Donald Trump move forward, “we will not be caught unprepared: we are already working to find solutions that will not send our companies and the welfare of our citizens into crisis,” he continued.
“These are the facts that speak. A war serves no one. No other economy in the world is as integrated as the U.S.-EU economy,” Tajani explains. “European companies in the U.S. employ 3.5 million Americans. And another million American jobs depend directly on trade with Europe. Of all U.S. goods abroad, two-thirds are in Europe. And the United States supplies more than 50 percent of our LNG. The volume of EU-U.S. trade is 1.5 trillion euros, representing 30 percent of global trade. There is a lot at stake for both sides.”
“It is clear that negotiations will be needed,” the foreign minister adds. “And it really seems to me that Trump is giving the first signs of willingness to negotiate: look at the confrontation with Mexico, at the understanding that was reached yesterday. We all know very well that the trade of all countries in the world, including the U.S., feeds on free movement: of products, ideas, people.”
Asked what is the risk of raising tariffs, Tajani replied thus, “The first is the one that Trump himself has announced he wants to reduce: inflation. Duties on imported goods, of course, are transferred to selling prices by increasing them. Italy has a special position, it is the second country in terms of export commodity variety after China. For this, and we are already doing it with open tables with industries, producers, we have to work to explore new markets. We have a strategic plan for Mexico, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Gulf countries, the Far East and all of Africa. There is a business plan already at an advanced stage.”
With the U.S., “we need to cooperate, come together. Buy and invest more in America for them to do the same. Our Defense already has very close relations with the U.S. and all of Europe should converge toward a common Defense so that we can act together.” And on military spending, “we are willing to go to 2 percent, certainly not 5 percent, even taking into account that we are the country with the most military personnel on missions. It can be done by unbundling spending from the stability pact, by issuing Eurobonds and also by drawing on Next Generation EU funds and unused Mes funds,” Tajani added.
With the U.S. “we want precisely to be a bridge. Of course each country has its own products that maybe, as it has been so far, it defends individually. But it is much better to act united,” the vice-premier continues.
– IPA Agency Photos –
(ITALPRESS).
