Efe / Toni Albir
The President of the European Council, António Costa
NATO Member States followed last week the defense investment goals recommended by Donald Trump. António Costa says the agreement should have a positive effect on commercial negotiations between the EU and the USA.
Spain It was the only member state of the NATO that Do not accept the ‘Trump’ Requirements’.
Promptly, the US President promised that the Spaniards would pay. “I find it terrible what Spain did, let’s negotiate with them and will pay double. We will force them to paySpain wants a free trip and I will force her to pay another way, ”said Trump at the end of the summit.
Moreover, everyone woke up an increase in the investment of 5% of GDP in the defense area by 2035.
António Costa thinks that the countries of the Atlantic Treaty did well in following the defense investment goals recommended by Donald Trump.
The President of the European Council considers that the agreement in NATO must have a positive effect on commercial negotiations between the EU and the United States.
Trump ads are due to 25% rate imposition for steel, aluminum and European cars and 20% in reciprocal tariffs to the community bloc, the latter, however, suspended for 90 days.
It is Deadline ends on July 9and the Commissioner for Commerce, the Slovak Maroš Šefčovičtraveled this week to USA for Conversations.
The miracle of the “5%”?
In an interview with Lusa, António Costa considers that “the agreement that the Europeans made with the Americans within the NATO, even solving the main problem that was in relations between some and the other (…) can only have one positive influence on commercial negotiations”.
And he points out: “I would even say that the logical consequence of the agreement that was made in the NATO is to have a positive effect on commercial negotiation.”
As for Nato, António Costa declined to comment on the secretary-general’s controversial statements and promised that “Europeans would pay the big one”, but notes that last week’s summit resolved the doubts about their existence.
“After several months when there was doubts whether the transatlantic alliance subsist or did not subsist, all partners expressed the desire to continue together, reinforce our relationship and agreed to reinforce new goals to reinforce the Atlantic alliance that, even proves otherwise, proves It is the most effective force of collective defense that we have on the global scale, ”he says.
UE vs. USA
On Thursday, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenthe US warned that the EU is preparing for the possibility of not being a “satisfactory understanding”promising to defend European interests.
Hours later, Trump stated that the European Union “is very unpleasant” By applying “very unfair taxes” to companies in the country, but added that “they will soon learn but unpleasant.”
António Costa refuses to comment on US president’s statements, preferring to focus on what he considers essential: the volume of business relations between the United States and Europe, which represent 30% of international trade and is 40% of world GDP.
“Therefore, everything that affects these business relationships has a very negative effect on the American economy, very negative on the European economy and very negative on the global economy,” he said.
According to Costa, the EU defends and proposed to the USA zero tariffsconsidering that these mean taxes paid by consumers and, therefore, with an impact on increased inflation.
This is not, however, the position of the American administrationwho sees tariffs as a good instrument of economic policy.
“Everyone thinks the opposite, but this is the vision of the American administration and we have to strive to seek to control the impacts that exist on the global economy, the European economy and the US economy. We are negotiating to minimize what the effects of this view are”Says the president of the European Council.
