The imposition of high steel and aluminum tariffs on Europe demonstrates US President Donald Trump's distrust of the strength of the European Union, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said, quoted by the Slovak news agency TASR, BTA reports.
Fico believes that the opposition in Slovakia will blame him and his entire ruling coalition for the high US tariffs.
According to the Slovak Prime Minister, the EU cannot compete with the United States, which will lead to several consequences.
„Europe will buy more and more gas and oil from the US, which means that the eastern dependency will be replaced by a western one. Secondly, as the NATO Secretary General stated, Europe will pay the US for weapons for Ukraine. And third, Europe will agree to a brutal increase in military spending without much resistance“, pointed out Robert Fico.
According to him, only then will the key European players rely on the US president to reconsider the new customs duties.
“If he does not change his mind, we should at least have a premonition of what the decision to impose high tariffs on steel and aluminum will mean for the entire Union and Slovakia and what protective measures we can take“, added the Prime Minister.
Last night, US President Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports into the US, without exceptions. During his first term, he imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, later granting relief to some trading partners, including the EU, the UK, Canada and Mexico.
Even before Trump announced his decision yesterday, the European Commission said it would respond to potential new US tariffs on steel and aluminum.