With the US imposing 20-percent tariffs on European Union products, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys says Europe should prepare a response as a warning and an invitation to negotiate.
“The other part of [the response to] the tariffs announced on April 2 is still being planned. Lithuania’s position is that these measures must be planned and prepared, but keeping them in the background and showing the US that we can use them, the aim is to reduce the tariffs through negotiations. Because nobody wins from them, they do damage to economies, consumers, prices are rising, trade is falling,” Budrys told LRT RADIO on Wednesday.
“We are not interested in that, we are interested in the freest possible trade with the US and we hope that such a warning sign will be enough for the US side to come to the negotiating table,” he added.
Budrys said that Lithuania would help businesses to address the potential competition from cheap goods entering the EU, especially from China.
“Of course, the fears of our businesspeople are justified. That is why we will do everything on the part of the state to help them raise these problems with the European Commission,” Budrys said.
“We have measures to protect ourselves [from cheap goods], and this message has been conveyed to China on several occasions, so that they do not try to do this, because we do not want to get involved in another escalation here as well,” the minister said.
A new wave of US tariffs on dozens of trading partners came into force on Wednesday. EU goods entering the US will be subject to a 20-percent duty.
The European Commission expects to respond to US President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs as early as next week, its spokesman said on Tuesday.
Brussels initially estimated the value of the US tariffs on exports at 26 billion euros, and the European response is expected to affect US products by the same amount.
But EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said on Monday that the actual measures would be milder at the request of some member states.
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