00:00Now we're moving on because on Friday President Trump also said he would hike tariffs on EU cars
00:06and trucks to 25%. It's left the trade deal struck between the EU and the US last summer
00:13hanging in the balance once again. That deal had set a baseline tariff of 15% on most EU goods
00:21including cars while completely removing EU tariffs on US industrial goods. For more we're
00:28joined live now by the chair of the European Parliament's committee on international trade
00:32Bernd Lange. Mr Lange really good to have you with us this morning. Can you tell us first
00:38is this announcement do you think a political maneuver from Trump directed specifically perhaps
00:45at Germany? Yes good morning and I think you are quite right. This is a political decision. He is
00:54really angry against Germany. We just heard it and I'm convinced that in this context he also
01:05targeting specifically German car manufacturers and this will perhaps lead to an extra tariff
01:13volume from around 15 billion. So that's really serious and of course there are no legal or no
01:22economic reasons for that. This is really politically against Germany. And I think the big question now
01:29Mr Lange is how should the EU respond to this? Is it time to move from appeasement to retaliation?
01:37That's really the question we will discuss on Wednesday. So it's totally clear. We saw a lot of breaches or
01:45a lot of breaking of the deal of Scotland by the United States. Even some weeks after we saw that
01:51more than 400 products were lifted from 15 to 50% because they are containing steel and aluminium. There's now
02:00on the 2nd of April where also these products are still in average
02:05average by 26%. And we saw that we saw that the Supreme Court decided the legal basis was illegal. So
02:16I guess now we will reflect and make an assessment about this one year of breaking by the United States.
02:23I'm not sure that we can really go on. And of course we have a toolbox of possible reaction and
02:30we will discuss it quite intensively and we will be serious.
02:35You mentioned a toolbox. We know that there is this kind of trade bazooka, the anti-coercion instrument. Will that
02:43be on the table as one of the options?
02:46We have the toolbox and of course all tools are in. But in this case, of course, we will look
02:54also to other elements like countermeasures, like counter tariffs or export restrictions. So I guess all options are on the
03:06table.
03:06But as you said, Mr. Lange, we have been here before. There could be more to come. So far, the
03:12EU has not had the political courage, some would say, to introduce, for example, retaliatory tariffs. Do you think that
03:20now the time has come and that this will happen?
03:24I'm sure that the mood in the European Union has changed specifically after this Greenland exercise. And if you read
03:33the statement by the commission yesterday, it was much more clear.
03:38And also there was a mentioning of the reaction and all options are open. So there's a change inside the
03:49attitude of the European Union after this long story of unpredictable reaction in the United States.
03:56And Mr. Lange, you've been urging EU governments to attach more conditions to the Scotland deal agreed last year, including
04:04making EU preferential tariffs conditional on the US, respecting its side of the deal.
04:09Germany has been pushing against that. Do you think they could now get on board?
04:15In the council, indeed, there are different positions. Some are more outspoken. Some are really trying to de-escalate.
04:24Germany, unfortunately, was more in the camp of the second. Now, I guess also here is a change.
04:32And we will have also a discussion with the council on Wednesday. And after that, I can give you a
04:38concrete answer what we will do.
04:40OK, thank you so much, Mr. Lange. That's all we have time for. I'm afraid we will be following those
04:45discussions on Wednesday, as you mentioned.
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