Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, stated on Wednesday that a trade war is not in the interest of the European Union or the United States.
“We share a strong transatlantic bond … our economies are very interlinked and I believe a trade war is not in the interest [of either party], neither for the U.S., neither for the European Union,” the prime minister told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“A trade war is a kind of a zero-sum gain,” he added. “We need to focus on how do we strengthen our transatlantic relationship, which is now more important than ever.”
Since his inauguration on Monday, President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to impose tariffs on EU goods entering the United States, stating that the EU has been “very, very bad to us” and that tariffs are the only way to achieve fairness.
On Tuesday, Trump mentioned that his administration was considering an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports, starting in February.
He also warned that Mexico and Canada could face similar import duties.
However, the European Union’s commissioner for the economy said that the bloc would respond to any tariffs imposed by the U.S.
“If there is a need to defend our economic interests, we will be responding in a proportionate way,” Valdis Dombrovskis told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.
“We’re ready to defend our values and also our interests and rights if that becomes necessary,” he added.
European officials, according to Dombrovskis, were in talks with their U.S. counterparts to find a “pragmatic” solution to the tariff issue, emphasizing that global growth could be negatively impacted if the economic relationship between the two nations were harmed.
