Trump Tariffs a hot topic among delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos

CGTN Europe

Arancha González Laya, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain spoke to CGTN Europe and started by telling us her experience of meeting Donald Trump

Transcript

00:00Well, what you see is what you get, pretty direct, wants to take you by surprise and

00:05ultimately likes to win after a long and protracted negotiation, but he wants to win.

00:11So on those tariffs, I'm just thinking about the OECD's director general who here said

00:15it's in nobody's interest to have a trade war.

00:19What does Donald Trump as president's second time around mean for global trade?

00:23Well, he's got two basically roads.

00:28Road number one, he just has tariffs on international trade, on all his international partners.

00:34It's going to be pretty messy.

00:35It's going to be pretty messy for the partners, but it's going to be pretty messy for the

00:39US too, because more tariffs equals more inflation, higher prices for US consumers.

00:45And this is what he's been promising, exactly the opposite of what he's been promising US

00:50consumers, lowering prices.

00:52But there is another avenue, is that he sits down with partners and they try to strike

00:57a deal.

00:58Let's take the European Union.

00:59He exports to the EU quite a lot of services.

01:04The EU exports quite a lot of manufacturers to the US.

01:08It's pretty kiff-kiff.

01:09Can they do a little bit better?

01:10Maybe they can find a way to negotiate.

01:13Hitting each other on the head with tariffs will be a lose-lose game.

01:18What we are looking for is a win-win outcome.

01:22Someone who talks a lot about win-win is President Xi of China.

01:25What do you think Donald Trump's presidency is going to mean for the relationship between

01:29the US and China?

01:30Well, it remains to be seen.

01:33We don't know.

01:34You know, again, there are two roads.

01:36Road number one is he tries to find a space where he negotiates with China.

01:43We all know that the relationship is antagonistic, that they have difficulties in their relationship,

01:51both sides.

01:52The US has difficulty with China and China with the US.

01:54We all know that.

01:56So if there is a way to negotiate the differences, try to see if there is a space where they

01:59can agree to positive outcomes for both.

02:03Or they take the opposite route, which is hitting each other on the head.

02:07Again, given the importance that the two have for international trade, for the stability

02:13of the international financial system, you know, the route of trying to find a way to

02:21agree to disagree would be probably preferable.

02:24I wonder then what the best case and the worst scenario is going to be then for the

02:27European Union.

02:28You've got titans of industry like the boss of Siemens saying that companies like theirs

02:33are tariff proof.

02:35Well, look, the EU-US trade relationship is the most consequential in the world.

02:44This is the big artery of international trade in the world.

02:50When you choke that artery, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

02:55So I think it's important to make sure that if there is a disagreement, sit down and negotiate.

03:01If not, it's going to be ugly because it's going to be an eye for an eye and both will

03:06be blind.

03:07And just quickly, Arantxa, what about geopolitics, geoeconomics, do we expect Trump to say anything

03:13on Ukraine, on Gaza?

03:16I think he's been prudent on Ukraine and I think it is for a good reason because whatever

03:22he says on Ukraine will be read not only by American allies around the world, but it will

03:28be read also by adversaries of the U.S. around the world.

03:31It would be read by China.

03:32It would be read by Russia.

03:34It will be read by Iran, by North Korea.

03:36So I think he's been trading carefully and I think it's the right thing to do.

03:40As to Gaza, I hope that everyone works to make sure this peace agreement holds.

03:47It's the best outcome we can hope for a region that has suffered enormously in this last

03:54month.

03:55Arantxa Gonzalez, always a pleasure talking to you.

03:57Thank you very much.

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