January 30,2018:
On Monday, European Union (EU) stated that it stands ready to hit back “swiftly and appropriately” if the U.S. President Donald Trump takes unfair trade measures against the 28-nation bloc.
EU’s warning comes less than 24 hours after Mr. Trump expressed his annoyance with the EU trade policy, stating that it “may morph into something very big”.
The stand-off contrasts sharply with the relations during administration of Barack Obama, when both sides sought to create a massive free trade zone between the EU and United States that, it was argued, could yield over $100 billion a year for both sides.
When Mr. Trump won Presidential Election in November 2016, those hopes evaporated as new President talked about protecting the American jobs and going against the multilateral trade deals that he portrayed as detrimental to his “America First” policies.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump added in a British television interview that “the European Union has been very, very unfair to the United States, and I think it’ll turn out to be very much to their detriment”.
EU Chief Spokesman Margaritis Schinas said that EU stands ready to react swiftly and appropriately in case our exports are affected by any restrictive trade measure from the United States.
Issues came to fore during last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
The Hindu
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