EU ready with measures against Trump's promised trade tariffs, Dutch ambassador says

The European Union has “potential measures” ready to quickly respond if incoming United States President Donald Trump imposes the trade tariffs in January that he promised during his campaigns, Birgitta Tazelaar, the Dutch ambassador in Washington, told Financieele Dagblad.

During the election campaign, Trump sang the praises of trade tariffs, saying increasing them would allow him to reduce income tax. He initially mentioned a tariff of 10 percent on the import value of products not from China. Later, he often said he would impose 20 percent tariffs. Products from China will face a 60 percent levy, he said. Dutch banks have already calculated that this would lead to higher inflation and lower economic growth in the Netherlands.

From the sidelines of the annual gala dinner of the Netherlands-America Foundation in New York, Ambassador Tazelaar told FD that the European Union was ready to respond. Whether the measures can count on support from the EU Member States will depend on what form they take - is the EU responding to a blanket tariff hike, or only affecting some sectors, for example, the ambassador said. “We do think it is very important that we maintain unity as much as possible as the European Union. That we do not allow ourselves to be played off against each other.”

Tazelaar is optimistic about collaboration between the Netherlands and the United States under Trump’s second term. “In his previous term of office, we all had to get used to it a bit, but then the Netherlands was able to do excellent business with Donald Trump.”