EU pledges to hold firm in face of Trump tariff threat

CGTN Europe

The European Union has promised a firm response if Donald Trump follows through on a threat to impose tariffs on European goods.    #EU #Trump

Transcript

00:00Well, there are certainly plenty of leaders in town in Brussels today. It is a day where

00:05there's an informal meeting of the heads of states of the 27 EU member states. And heading

00:11into this informal meeting here in Brussels, we heard from Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime

00:16Minister, who said it was time to work to end this stupid trade war, as he put it. He

00:21also said it was a major test of the essentially the sovereignty, the collective strength of

00:29the EU going forward. This is a threat from Donald Trump that the EU has been bracing

00:35for. There was a task force put in place by the EU even months before the US presidential

00:41election back in November, preparing for the possibility of a Trump presidency. So now

00:46that work put in behind the scenes could certainly be put to the test. We've heard from EU officials

00:51saying in recent weeks they'd be willing to buy more US liquefied natural gas in an effort

00:57to appease Donald Trump. But it seems at the moment, at least, that those efforts

01:01have not done enough to please the US president. But despite that, we've heard from Kaya Callas,

01:08the EU's top diplomat and foreign affairs chief. She says the EU is prepared to respond

01:13if Donald Trump comes good on his threat. There are no winners in trade wars. If the

01:21United States and the US start a trade war, then the one laughing on the side is China.

01:27We are very interlinked. We need America, and America needs us as well. The tariffs

01:34increase costs. They are not good for the jobs, not good for the customers either. And

01:44the threat of Donald Trump taking over Greenland, again in focus for EU member states. We've

01:50heard from Medha Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, addressing a reporter. She

01:55once again reiterated that Greenland is not for sale. She says, though, that she is open

02:03to the Danish territory expanding the US footprint. She acknowledges that Donald Trump is right,

02:09that there is a security concern. And she says she is willing to work with the US in

02:14that regard, but she says that sovereign borders must be respected.

02:19Will, let's just put Mr Trump and tariffs to one side for a moment and talk about the

02:25original purpose of this European meeting, which was defence, presumably top of their

02:30agenda today. Tell us more of what's going on on that.

02:36Absolutely. And it was laid out by Antonio Acosta, the European Council president, who

02:44said that these informal talks would really focus on three key areas, collaboration, financing

02:50and partnerships. When it comes to partnerships, well, significantly, this meeting is not just

02:55among the heads of state of the 27 EU member states, but also invitations are being sent

03:01out to Mark Rutte, the NATO Secretary General, as well as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

03:07So significant there that the EU is seeking further collaboration, both with NATO as well

03:12as the UK going forward. Key issues that are on the docket, one is defence production,

03:20real efforts for the EU to be less reliant on the United States to boost its own capabilities

03:25going forward. There are concerns, though, from the bloc that with Donald Trump threatening

03:29tariffs, if the EU takes further steps to boost its own defence capabilities and move

03:35away from reliance on the US umbrella when it comes to buying US arms, that could exacerbate

03:42tensions with Donald Trump. So that is a key area of discussions. The other one is

03:46defence spending. Donald Trump has, of course, called for NATO allies to spend roughly 5%

03:52of GDP. Mark Rutte says that many nations of NATO need to spend more. He's again said

03:59that that is a priority of these discussions. He is assessing the capabilities of NATO allies

04:05before figuring out a new target, which is currently at 2%. But he says it'll be far

04:11north of that. So expect developments from that a little later this year when Mark Rutte

04:15has the opportunity to really digest where European members of NATO are at when it comes

04:21to their capabilities to ramp up defence spending. But that a major issue on the docket today.

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