US President Donald Trump on Thursday continued to target the European Union over what he described as an unequal trade relationship.
“From America’s point of view, the European Union is treating us very unfairly and very poorly,” Trump said in a virtual speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
After his inauguration on Monday, Trump's second term was a major topic of conversation in Davos this year — particularly in light of his threats to impose trade tariffs on the European Union. China, Mexico, Canada And beyond.
Echoing earlier comments, Trump said in his speech in Davos: “They make it very difficult to bring products into Europe, and yet they expect to sell their products and sell them in the United States. So, we have, you know, hundreds of products.” Billions of dollars in deficit with the European Union, no one is happy about it and we will do something about it.”
“They basically don't take the products of our farms and they don't take our cars, and yet they send us cars by the millions. They're putting tariffs on things we want to do… We've had some pretty big complaints from the government.” European Union,” he continued.
Trump he said in December The EU will face “tariffs all the way” unless it increases its purchases of US oil and gas, something European officials have expressed a willingness to do.
“They want to be able to compete better, and you can't compete when you can't go through the approval process faster. There's no reason you can't go faster… I'm trying,” he added on Thursday. “I have to be a builder, because I love Europe.”
The United States is the largest recipient of EU goods, which represents Nearly a fifth of the bloc's exports. United States ′ The largest trade deficit With the European Union in machinery and vehicles, with a total gap of 102 billion euros ($106 billion) in 2023. In energy, Washington had a trade surplus with the European bloc of 70 billion euros; It also has Large trade surplus in services.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde He told CNBC earlier this week in Davos That the EU must be “prepared” to impose US tariffs under Trump. She also said that the fact that he did not immediately impose blanket tariffs was a “very smart approach… because blanket tariffs don't necessarily give you the results you expect.”
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told CNBC that A The trade war was not in the interest of the European Union or the United StatesHe described the economies of the two countries as “extremely interconnected.”
