‘Aggressive and arbitrary’ US tariffs need united EU response, says French minister – Europe live
French delegate for trade Laurent Saint-Martin says France ‘prefers cooperation to confrontation’ as EU discusses response to tariffsOutgoing German economy minister Robert Habeck is not mincing his words this morning in response to a question on US tariffs and how they were calculated.He says:“The calculations, from my point of view, are nonsense. Even the basis of the calculation is nonsense. The assumption that a trade budget surplus or deficit is a problem in itself, is a wrong estimation, because in the end, globalisation serves all economies, and especially the American economy, [which] has [seen] huge growth figures in GDP, better than a lot of European countries. So you see, if we the rest of the world, are selling cheaper goods to the American economy, it’s of use of the American economy. Continue reading...

French delegate for trade Laurent Saint-Martin says France ‘prefers cooperation to confrontation’ as EU discusses response to tariffs
Outgoing German economy minister Robert Habeck is not mincing his words this morning in response to a question on US tariffs and how they were calculated.
He says:
“The calculations, from my point of view, are nonsense. Even the basis of the calculation is nonsense.
The assumption that a trade budget surplus or deficit is a problem in itself, is a wrong estimation, because in the end, globalisation serves all economies, and especially the American economy, [which] has [seen] huge growth figures in GDP, better than a lot of European countries. So you see, if we the rest of the world, are selling cheaper goods to the American economy, it’s of use of the American economy. Continue reading...