EU open to US power, arm gross sales talks to stave off tariffs

By Marta Fiorin and Cecile Mantovani

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The European Union is open to discussing purchases of power and arms from the US to keep off tariffs that President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on the bloc, EU’s prime financial system official mentioned on Thursday.

Trump has vowed to handle a long-running deficit in items commerce with the EU, both by means of tariffs of extra oil and fuel exports.

European Fee Government Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis mentioned the EU would defend its rights and pursuits if tariffs had been imposed and referred to the retaliatory duties the EU imposed on U.S. imports when EU metal and aluminium had been hit by tariffs throughout Trump’s first time period.

At the start although, the EU wished to have interaction with the brand new U.S. administration, Dombrovskis, who’s in command of the financial system on the bloc’s government, instructed Reuters in an interview in Davos.

He mentioned U.S. liquefied pure fuel (LNG) imports had confirmed useful when Russia turned off most fuel provides to Europe in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. is now the EU’s largest LNG provider.

“We’re searching for different suppliers,” he mentioned. “So we had an excellent cooperation during the last couple of years, and from our facet we’re able to see methods to additional that.”

Europe has mentioned one other avenue may very well be navy spending, given Europe’s have to strengthen its defence capabilities to counter Russia, which might require sturdy cooperation inside NATO.

“So actually there may be scope additionally to debate how we additional strengthen additionally our navy cooperation and military-industrial cooperation,” Dombrovskis mentioned.