The European Union must, in response to import duties declared by US President Donald Trump, seek opportunities for economic cooperation with other countries, including BRICS, while continuing negotiations with the US. In the Sunday discussion session of the QVR for 5 minutes 12, MEPs Erik Kaliňák (Smer-SD), Ľudovít ótor (PS) and Miriam Lexmann (KDH) said it. MEP Branislav Ondruš (Voice-SD) stressed that the US is no longer an ally but an enemy on economic issues.
“It is important that we realize that on the other side of the Atlantic we do not have an ally, we have at least a rival, I would even tell the enemy, because Donald Trump, when announced these duties, literally called the EU an enemy”Ondruš said. He added that the EU should change its economic policy and start favoring its interests, for example, by prefering European companies in public procurement or other support schemes.
In response to new duties by the US, ótor and Lexmann agreed on the necessity of greater support of Slovak companies. Import duties of 25 % on cars and 20 % on all other goods will significantly damage the Slovak economy. Approximately 20,000 jobs are at risk, and analysts estimate the negative impact on GDP growth in three years of approximately 2.5 %. According to them, the support of businesses should include, for example, the abolition of the transaction tax and other measures to improve the business environment.
According to MEPs, one of the ways to help some companies affected by US duties is the support of European military production, which could also bring technological progress. However, MEPs did not agree to increase defense spending.
Similarly, they did not agree on the evaluation of the already established measures against the spread of drool and coffers. While Kaliňák and Ondruš consider measures to be timely and sufficient to testify to EC evaluation, Lexmann pointed out that the result is important. She recalled that Poland, despite the fact that it did not have a common border with Hungary, has introduced harder measures than Slovakia.
