Donald Trump’s return to the White House raises uncertainties on EU-US trade relations, challenges multilateralism and threatens the international rules-based order. Moreover, the US President’s recent announcements on new tariffs for its main trade partners, including a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports, set a precedent that will negatively affect the global economy and will raise costs for consumers. The S&D Group recognises the importance of EU-US trade relations but believes that, first and foremost, the EU should stand up for its values. If necessary, the EU should react through the WTO and its own mechanisms, including counter-tariffs, as the best way to defend our people, businesses and interests.

In a plenary session debate on the new trade era and the tariff threats from the Trump administration, S&D leader, Iratxe García, called for dialogue but she also warned that if the US opts for illegal measures, the EU must take immediate reciprocal actions.

S&D Group President, Iratxe García, said:

“We are at a turning point for the global economy. The President of the United States is bullying his major trading partners with unjustified tariffs and threatening to extend this senseless trade war to the European Union.

“Protectionism threatens to destroy the progress we have made on trade. According to the World Bank, since 1990, trade has boosted global incomes by 24%, and by 50% for the poorest 40% of the population, and it has lifted more than one billion people out of poverty.

“And in the face of Trump's destructive drift, the false patriots' solution is to kneel before Trump. I wonder if they will follow him in his delusion when he jeopardises millions of jobs in sectors such as steel, aluminium, automobiles and agriculture.

“We must act with a strategic vision. By strengthening our single market, removing internal barriers and reducing dependence. But also, by diversifying our partners with Latin America, Africa and Asia.

“If Washington hits us with illegal tariffs, let us respond with tariffs in sectors strategic to the US economy; let us resort to the Enforcement Regulation; let us use safeguard rights; let us deploy the anti-coercion rule to close our market to their goods and services, and also to prevent their companies from bidding for public tenders or receiving funding from the EU budget.

“The US President thinks that international trade is a game that can only have one winner. But history shows us that trade is a source of shared wealth, and that protectionism only leads to blockage and confrontation. Trump has chosen the wrong path.”