On "Forbes Newsroom", Fellow at the European Foreign Relations Council, Liana Fix, discusses how Europe can navigate through the ongoing discussions between the United States and China over trade and tariffs.
00:00Now, you talk about how President Trump has not engaged with allies to negotiate with China.
00:05It is very much a U.S.-China conversation exclusively.
00:09What do you think will happen next?
00:12And what is the move on behalf of European leaders here?
00:17The Europeans have taken a cautious approach because they do understand that security and trade is interlinked for them.
00:24So they have said, well, we can be tough.
00:25We have the means to be tough.
00:27They have just fine data.
00:30And then Google, so the whole digital realm is also an instrument of power that the European Union can wield.
00:35They have also signaled that they are willing to be constructive in discussions with the United States.
00:41One problem that the Europeans, and especially the European Commission, which does the trade part for all EU-European sees,
00:48is that those negotiations about trade and tariff usually are incredibly complex.
00:54They take a long, long time whenever you try to negotiate something between countries.
00:59So that approach to do a break almost about three months seems for every serious trade negotiator almost ridiculous because three months are not enough to negotiate between partners.
01:13And especially not if you have like dozens of partners behind the line who also want to negotiate.
01:18So it remains to be seen how deep the negotiations will go or in the end we will just have some, you know, some very broad results that are presented as a success,
01:30but actually in substance may mean less than we think.
01:32That's an interesting point on the timeline.
01:36I've heard investors say something similar.
01:37That 90-day pause that some were calling for was the bare minimum in this scenario.
01:43That 90-day pause there.
01:43That 90-day pause is not enough to make a difference.
01:44As a result of the pandemic, that is what we're doing.
01:45That is why we're talking about the issues that we're not going to get ready to see before we have made an argument.
01:45So, you know, if you want to get one of those things that we need to go or have a chance to get one of those days,
01:46that will take one of those things that we can have to take one of those days.
01:50I mean, I'm sorry, you know, a bucket of cake.
01:51And if I went to make a picture, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the years.
01:52I'll be blue now.
01:53I'm sorry, I'll be wrong.
01:53And I'm sorry.
01:54So I think it's called a way to make a better answer.
