EU 'not Giving Up' On US But Wants More Trade Clarity: Economy Chief

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2025) The EU will not abandon its important trade ties with the United States but wants more clarity on its negotiating position amid tensions over Donald Trump's tariffs, the bloc's economy chief said Wednesday.

EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis's remarks during a trip to Washington come as Trump's sweeping new tariffs on friend and foe this year cast a pall on global growth and strain trade ties.

Since returning to the presidency, Trump has imposed additional tariffs of 10 percent on most US trading partners -- including the European Union -- which he also threatened with sharper action if the bloc retaliated.

Trump has targeted specific sectors with tariffs too, rolling out 25 percent duties on steel and aluminum, alongside auto imports.

Despite the new duties, Dombrovskis stressed Wednesday that "the European Union is not giving up on our closest, deepest and most important partnership with the United States."

Washington and Brussels will likely need each other more in an "increasingly conflictual and competitive world," he asserted at an event hosted by the Institute of International Finance.

Nonetheless, while the EU seeks to deepen existing partnerships, "we will also seal new partnerships across the world to diversify and strengthen our economic security at home," Dombrovskis said.

Brussels hopes Trump can lift the steel, aluminum and auto tariffs after an agreement.

But the EU's latest fines on Apple and Meta totalling some 700 million Euros (roughly $795 million) for breaking digital competition rules risk the wrath of Trump once more.

On security and defense, Dombrovskis said Wednesday that Trump was "right in saying that Europe needs to take more responsibility for its security."

The bloc, he said, "must carry its fair share of the burden alongside its NATO allies, and the United States in particular."

At a separate event held later on Wednesday, Dombrovskis added that the ongoing engagement with the United States "requires clarity from both sides."

"Currently, indeed, one would wish for more clarity on expectations from (the) US side," he added.