The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, has spoken out against retaliation in the event of new US tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump. “We could offer to buy certain things from the United States and signal that we are ready to sit at the negotiating table,” Lagarde said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper. This approach is better than a pure retaliatory strategy.
Lagarde repeated warnings about the consequences of a possible trade war with the USA. With an offer to purchase goods from the USA, the European side could signal that it is ready to negotiate in order to explore the possibilities of cooperation. With a view to a possible trade war, the ECB President said: “That cannot be in anyone’s interest, neither for the United States nor for Europe.”
US President-elect Trump had previously announced that one of his first acts in office would be to impose tariffs of 25 percent on all goods from Mexico and Canada. In addition, Trump had generally announced far-reaching tariffs during the election campaign and argued that US companies would then produce more in the USA again and thus create jobs.
