The European Union is ready to bargain. Brussels wants to propose to the new American president, Donald Trump, to invest more in its defense but in exchange asks him not to launch a trade war, declared, Monday January 20, Stéphane Séjourné, vice-president of the European Commission, responsible for of industrial strategy. “We cannot have a trade war and at the same time build defense Europe,” he said on France Inter.
“The deal with the United States is yes for a disengagement” from European defense “and to build European security guarantees in addition to NATO, but we cannot do it with a trade war on our hands. “And national budgets are not capable of increasing the defense budget to 3% (of GDP) everywhere,” he insisted.
To the question of a European response “by force” to a trade war, the European Commissioner reacted cautiously: “I cannot answer you.” The Europeans themselves would suffer in the event of increased customs duties on American products and “the trade balance with the United States is very favorable to the Europeans”, he stressed.
“You have to be offensive”
Nearly 20% of European Union exports crossed the Atlantic in 2023, far ahead of the United Kingdom (13.1%) or China (8.8%), according to Eurostat data. In total, the amount of European exports to the United States amounts to more than 500 billion euros in 2023, which raises fears about Donald Trump’s future trade policy. “There are two possible strategies, an offensive approach or a defensive approach. We can have a response on customs duties but the Europeans will pay it,” he continued, taking the case of European companies which buy parts detached from Boeing. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs is not afraid of words: “We must be offensive and perhaps even be radical if necessary.”
Stéphane Séjourné also mentioned a “defensive approach which consists of redirecting a certain number of purchases around the world”, for example “suspending supplies of LNG (liquefied natural gas) to Azerbaijan to buy more from the Americans”. In total, the European Union imported, in 2023, 120 billion cubic meters of LNG, of which more than half of total imports came from the United States, according to the website of the European Council. Note that Brussels’ dependence on LNG has increased since the war in Ukraine, reducing its dependence on Russian gas.
“The whole world is dependent on what Donald Trump does tonight. A certain number of executive orders will be issued. And I think that neither the Canadians, nor the Mexicans, nor us, nor the rest of the world, knows exactly what there is in these decrees,” he concluded. Donald Trump plans in particular to impose, from January 20, customs duties of 25% on all products coming from Mexico and Canada. China could also see its taxes increase by 10% and the euro zone is also in its sights. So she reaches out to the billionaire by sending her personal representative, Vice President Han Zheng, to the inauguration ceremony of the Republican president, scheduled for Monday January 20. A strong diplomatic gesture representative of the economic issues that will be played out during this second term.