Up next in 10
'Europe has everything it needs to make it through the storm', EU chief says
801 views
Apr 3, 2025
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen tried to reassure citizens in Europe on Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs. “Europe has everything it needs to make it through the storm," she said. However, EU citizens are experiencing "bubbling frustration" because their leaders are still calling the US "an ally" despite its "naked aggression", said FRANCE 24's Brussels correspondent, Dave Keating. Many are angry for what they see as overcaution from EU leaders," he added.
View Video Transcript
0:00
For more on Brussels next move, we can cross live to France 24's Dave Keating
0:05
Dave, we heard strong words then from the European Commission Chief. Yes, strong words, but no announcement of new retaliatory tariffs
0:18
Fondreliand said the EU was still going to try to negotiate a solution with the United States
0:25
She said, quote, as Europeans, we will always promote our interests and our values
0:29
and we will always stand up for Europe, but there is an alternative path
0:33
It's not too late to address these concerns through negotiations. And she said the EU's trade chief, Meroshevich, is in permanent dialogue with the U.S. government
0:44
According to reports, he's being largely ignored by the U.S. government. But the thrust here of what she's saying is that the EU is ready to respond
0:55
but is not going to respond just yet. Now she did reference this first package of retaliatory measures that the EU already started preparing in retaliation for Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as his tariffs on automobile imports That amounts to
1:13
26 billion euros worth of goods. But that was delayed. The package has not gone through most of it
1:22
because the application was delayed. National governments got nervous about the retaliation
1:27
and there was some concern that the EU was going to shoot and shot too early and that they should hold off on the most of those until Trump actually went ahead with this blanket tariff on all of the imports in order to try to convince him not to do it
1:42
Clearly that didn't work. And so now they're most likely going to move forward with that package
1:47
However, Bondi Lion did not say definitively in her remarks early this morning at 5 a.m
1:53
that she was going to do that. Now, she also addressed the frustration that citizens in Europe are feeling right now, as
2:01
they seeing Donald Trump make these naked aggression toward the European Union toward Europe in general and meanwhile European leaders are still calling the U an ally There is bubbling frustration with this from citizens many of whom are angry about what they see as over caution from EU leaders
2:22
She spoke to this in this speech. She said, I know that many of you feel let down by our oldest ally
2:29
Yes, we must brace for the impact that this will inevitably have
2:33
Europe has everything it needs to make it through the storm. We are in this together
2:37
If you take on one of us, you take on all of us. Our unity is our strength
2:42
Europe has the largest single market in the world, 450 million consumers that actually directly contradicts something that Trump said last night
2:50
He said the U.S. is the largest market in the world. Untrue, it's the European Union
2:55
And the European Union does have a lot of tools at its disposal to strike back
2:58
if they choose to use those tools. Well, what are those tools, Dave
3:03
I mean, if von der Leyen's there saying that we have the car, to play, what are them
3:08
The big card to play would be putting a tariff on U services imports So Trump has focused very much on this trade deficit with the EU in terms of goods The EU exports way way more goods to the U than the U exports to the U
3:25
exports to the EU. However, when you look at services, the situation is the polar opposite
3:32
The U.S. exports way, way more services to the EU than the other way around
3:36
Now, services are non-tangible things. So there are things like financial services, banking, social media
3:43
Facebook, X, all those things that you can't physically touch. The U.S. really dominates that market
3:50
The EU imports a huge amounts of services. Services have never had a tariff applied to them before
3:56
This would be new territory, but people at the Commission are looking into this
4:01
And in her speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday, President Fonder Lyon did list services as something that is being considered
4:09
It's complicated because these aren't physical things. they're harder to tariff. But that is the so-called nuclear option
4:15
that the commission is looking at right now, and it would seriously hurt American financial companies
4:22
and big tech companies
#Government
#news
#Politics
#World News