Strasbourg – The European Union (EU) should respond to the imposition of American tariffs together and unitedly so that its response makes sense. Slovak Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) across political factions agreed on this, reports a TASR correspondent from Strasbourg.
MEPs stated this after Tuesday’s speech by the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maroš Šefčovič, in the EP plenary focused on trade matters.
Ľudovít Ódor (PS) reminded that Trump fulfilled the initial promises of imposing tariffs and expressed concerns that the USA might also impose tariffs on European cars. He also expressed hope that there is room for negotiations between the EU and the USA. “It’s disadvantageous for everyone, the entire world will suffer if individual countries close off. For me, the most painful thing is that we no longer have any rules in international trade. Then even investments don’t work well. Less wealthy countries and also American consumers will suffer the most,” he explained.
According to him, it is right to talk about EU countermeasures because “other great powers cannot dance on our heads”. “Countermeasures, yes, but we need to use all negotiating positions to prevent the imposition of further tariffs, and the Union should strive to preserve rules in international trade so that trade is according to them, and not according to feelings,” he added.
Monika Beňová (Smer-SD) pointed out that as an MEP she also remembers the first Trump era when the EU was building strategic autonomy for its strengthening, but in the end “nothing came of it” and now the European Commission came up with the proposal of a “strategic compass”, which she perceives more as marketing than an effort to resolve issues. “I don’t know how Trump’s decisions will turn out, it will also depend on the development of the American economy. Trump doesn’t take regard for anyone or anything. Certainly not for the EU, he has indicated several times that he regards member states more as his partners. It seems that the EU is on the defensive, and the American president is choosing with whom he will negotiate and with whom not. Ideally, it would be if the leaders agreed at the summit that their response would be to act unitedly,” she described the situation. According to her, the European Parliament has no reach for this; unity must be found and agreed upon by the leaders of the member countries of the Eurozone, and if they don’t do it together, it makes no sense.
EP Quaestor Miriam Lexmann (KDH), who has just returned from the United States, stated that she repeatedly urged the EU to start negotiating with Trump and his administration as soon as possible because leading representatives of the Union have not yet met with him. “That is a huge mistake. We know how controversially Trump operates. We knew these steps would come. Trump announced it. He needs the other side to speak up, to sit down at the table and bring some counterproposal,” she explained.
She thinks it was a mistake that the EU waited until it received a concrete announcement and only then responded. She claims that if the Union wants to defend the interests of its citizens, it must push more, and that also applies to the Slovak government, which should have acted at the European level in favor of Slovaks’ interests instead of losing trust and asking questions about EU membership. “Slovakia is the most dependent on exports to the USA of all EU member countries. American tariffs will affect us the most, and that’s precisely why our government should have pushed the EU a long time ago,” she advised. (February 12)
“It’s disadvantageous for everyone, the entire world will suffer if individual countries close off. For me, the most painful thing is that we no longer have any rules in international trade. Then even investments don’t work well. Less wealthy countries and also American consumers will suffer the most.” Ľudovít Ódor
