Trump claims that the EU and other countries have trade surpluses with the United States. Therefore, he promised to solve this long-term deficit, for example by introducing tariffs.
The European Union is open to discussing the purchase of energy and weapons from the United States to avoid tariffs that US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on Brussels. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said this in an interview with Reuters, reports TASR.
However, Dombrovskis assures that the EU will protect its economic interests and is ready to react appropriately to possible tariffs by the United States. In an interview on the sidelines of the economic forum in Davos, he recalled that when Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU during his first term in office, Brussels responded with retaliatory measures on imports from the US.
However, the EU primarily wants to establish cooperation with the new American administration, said Dombrovskis, who is responsible for the economy in the EC. He said imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US proved useful when Russia cut off most gas supplies to Europe following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The United States is now the largest supplier of LNG to the EU.
“We are looking for alternative suppliers,” said the vice president of the EC, adding that the EU and the US have had good cooperation in recent years and Brussels is ready to discuss how to further develop it.
In this context, the EU has previously indicated that another option could be to increase defense spending to increase capabilities to counter Russia, which would require strong cooperation within NATO. “So there is certainly room for discussion on how to further strengthen our military-industrial cooperation,” added Dombrovskis.
