US, EU trade war would only have losers, German finance minister says
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US, EU trade war would only have losers, German finance minister says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trade conflict between the United States and the European Union would not see any winner but only losers, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told Reuters in an interview.
Lindner said he was following the toss-up US presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, and saw the risk of tariffs in the next US administration.
"Whoever will enter the White House, we are at the forefront of a new era of transatlantic diplomacy to convince our US partners that we need more or less a new trade agreement between the US and the EU instead of introducing tariffs," Lindner said.
Beyond tariffs, Trump has vowed to "get out" of the nearly three-year war between Ukraine and Russia. That threat helped to motivate the current US administration of Democrat Joe Biden to finalise its $20 billion portion of a long-awaited $50 billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets.
The US announced on Wednesday plans to start making funds available by year-end for economic and military aid. This will be placed alongside a separate $20 billion European Union commitment and $10 billion to be split by G7 allies Britain, Japan and Canada.
Lindner said the EU is finishing the technical details of its portion, but it is "more or less finalised on the political level."
