A senior EU official said that Europe is ready to respond in a ‘proportionate way’ when Trump imposes tariffs
European Union Commission Vice President of the European Union Valdis Dombrovskis poses for a photo at the Renaissance Harbor View Hotel in Wan Chai. 02DEC17 SCMP/ Xiaomei Chen (Photo by Chen Xiaomei/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
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Europe will respond proportionately to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the European Union’s economic commissioner told CNBC on Wednesday.
“If there is a need to defend our economic interests, we will respond in a proportionate way,” Valdis Dombrowski told CNBC on Wednesday.
“We stand ready to defend our values and our interests and our rights,” he added, speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump told reporters that the EU is “very bad for us. So they’re going to pay tariffs. It’s the only way. … You’re going to get fairness.”
He also said that his administration is discussing imposing a 10% additional tariff on goods imported from China starting from February.
Dombrowski said that the US and Europe were strategic partners and that it was important to work together geopolitically and economically. He said European officials were in talks with their US counterparts to find a “workable” solution to the tariff talks.
This is a developing story and will be updated soon.
