©Sputnik/Ekaterina Shtukina
The US imposition of “reciprocal” tariffs on EU exports has doomed the bloc’s economy, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.
This week, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs in an attempt to improve America’s balance of trade, accusing the country’s economic partners of exploiting access to its consumer market through protectionist policies and currency manipulation.
Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, remarked on Thursday that while the move seriously disrupts global commerce, Russia will be largely unaffected, as its trade with the US is virtually nonexistent.
The expression, which advises patient inaction, has been attributed by Western authors, including Umberto Eco, to various Eastern sources and may be a misinterpretation of a remark by Chinese philosopher Confucius, which does not mention dead bodies.
Outgoing German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has compared the potential impact to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Then too, “something new was happening, and we were not prepared in Europe to cope with the challenge,” he said during a press conference on Thursday.
Many other European politicians and media outlets have described the economic fallout from the tariffs as disastrous for member states. Washington, however, has warned that any retaliatory steps would be met with further measures.
Medvedev has previously called out Brussels for being incompetent and irrationally hostile toward Russia. In an effort to punish Moscow over the Ukraine conflict, Brussels has sought to cut off energy imports from the country entirely. The economic bloc has also imposed sweeping sanctions, significantly reducing direct trade.
Critics of the policy, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, argue that it has led to a dramatic decline in the competitiveness of EU products, inflicting substantial economic damage.
Canada and the EU swiftly retaliate against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs
Major trade partners swiftly hit back at President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, imposing stiff new taxes on U.S products from textiles and water heaters to beef and bourbon.
Canada, the largest supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., said Wednesday it will place 25% reciprocal tariffs on steel products and also raise taxes on a host of items: tools, computers and servers, display monitors, sports equipment, and cast-iron products.
Across the Atlantic, the European Union will raise tariffs on American beef, poultry, bourbon and motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans.
Combined, the new tariffs will cost companies billions of dollars, and further escalate the uncertainty in two of the world’s major trade partnerships. Companies will either take the losses and earn fewer profits, or, more likely, pass costs along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Prices will go up, in Europe and the United States, and jobs are at stake, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers,” von der Leyen said.
European stock markets closed lower on Thursday, following U.S. President Donald Trump's stronger-than-expected trade tariffs announcements.
The regional Stoxx 600 index ended down around 2.7%. Big retail names with global supply chains suffered, with German sportswear retailer Adidas falling 11%.
Shipping giant Maersk, widely viewed as a barometer for world trade, was 9.5% lower.
The Stoxx Autos index dropped 3.9% as Trump's 25% tariffs on imported vehicles to the U.S. took effect and added to existing new duties on steel and aluminum.
Other sectors deeply in the red included banks, down 5.6%, and technology, lower by 4.5%. Utilities stocks, traditionally a defensive play in times of market turmoil, rose nearly 3%.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.6%, with France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX posting deeper losses of 3.3% and 3.1%, respectively.
The U.S.' biggest economic rival China was hit with a new 34% tariff rate which will come on top of the existing 20% tariffs on U.S. imports from China, taking the effective total tariffs to 54%.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded to the tariffs announcements by saying the European Union is preparing further countermeasures against U.S. tariffs if negotiations fail.
Meanwhile, France's President Emmanuel Macron responded by urging French companies to pause planned investments in the U.S., saying tariffs are a shock for international trade.
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