«With today's action we will finally be able to render the greatness of America, to make it greater than ever. The jobs and factories will return to force in our country, this is already happening, we will strongly strengthen the industrial base, we will open foreign markets and we will remove external commercial barriers, and in the last instance there will be a small production. gold of America. « Five decades of free trade were deleted overnight with the sponge by the President of America Donald Trump, who says that although the US have promoted free trade and «cheap and anywhere» policy, now it would be better «expensive, but at home». The pendulum passes from one extreme to another. In Romania before 1989, the policy «expensive and (often stupid) at home» was brought to the extreme, and after the revolution he suddenly passed to the «anywhere» politics. Trump believes that the pluses brought by «expensive, but at home» are larger than the minuses created by «cheap and anywhere.» Therefore, he decided that in addition to the 25% tariffs imposed on imports of cars, steel and aluminum in the USA, to apply «mutual rates» of at least 10% on any US imports from anywhere. For the EU, including for Romania, Poland and the other Eastern European states, «mutual rates» amount to 20%. Could be worse. Serbia, for example, is hit by the US with 37%customs tariffs. Imports from the Republic of Moldova have 31%rates. But the 34% quotas imposed on China or 46% imposed on Vietnam make analysts believe that Trump's main objective is to destabilize the commercial order in the Asian influence area. The trophy is China, whose exports in the US are targeted in a total of over 50%. Also, so far in history it has not happened that a new American leader would stay so long as long as the leaders of the great European economies and institutions are currently. Through the new tariff policy, Washington rocked the global commercial order, not just the Asian one. If Trump remains in positions (and he has the unpredictable leader's reputation), it is expected that the impact on world trade will be significantly not necessarily through the shock produced directly by rates, but by disturbing the supply chains, by changing the investment flows and especially by the uncertainties created. A period of negotiations will follow. The politicians in Germany, whose exports of car in the US are significantly affected, have indicated that they will negotiate. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also left the door open for negotiations. They can follow countermeasures. Several EU and diplomat officials have assured that the Union has now and is ready to use more tools that can respond to Trump's tariff policies or they can oblige the US to negotiate than it had in its first term. An extreme possibility would be to hit in the big American technology companies. There is intensely discussed a fee on digital services. Beijing reacted dryly and hard to Trump's new rates, announcing that «we will resort to countermeasures to protect our interests. There are no winners in commercial wars and there is no way out of protectionism. China asks the US immediately and raises unilateral rates and solving its misunderstandings.» At the opposite end, the prime minister of Australia said that Trump does not behave as a friend, but excluded the application of countermeasures against US tariffs. But Australia was hit with basic mutual rates of only 10%. In the business world, one of the first concrete reactions to Trump's rates has the car manufacturer Stelantis. He temporarily stopped the production in two factories, one in Canada and one in Mexico. The effects will feel the employees first. Trump has surplus all imports of cars. And the EU exports cars to the US. For small and ultras specialized economies in car exports, Washington policies can cause big problems. Over 73% of the total exports of Slovakia in the US are cars and car parts, which leaves the extremely vulnerable economy at Trump's rates. However, generally exports, of any kind of Eastern European states in the US are small if they are related to trade with other partners. The biggest ones are of Poland, and there analysts are not worried about the impact of American tariffs on economic growth. It will exist and will not be negligible. But it will not be something of life and death. I also believe officials of the ECB regarding the impact on the euro area economy. Economic experts in Poland see Trump's monetary war a reason for diversification. US President Donald Trump: «The operation ended! The patient has survived and heal. The prognosis is that the patient will be much stronger, bigger, better and more resistant than he has ever.»Ursula von de Leyen, the president of the European Commission: «The universal tariffs announced by President Trump against the whole world, including the EU, are a major blow to the world economy. The global economy will suffer massively. The insecurity will rapidly amplify and will further increase the protectionism. The consequences will be terrible for millions.»
JheRG Kukies, German Minister of Finance: «The easiest way to ensure balance and fairness is for everyone to go to zero rates. Then we will have free trade, efficiency, scale savings.»
French Prime Minister François Bayrou: «It is a huge difficulty for Europe. I think it is also a catastrophe for the US and American citizens.»
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez: «This tariff attack of the American administration does not distinguish between friends and enemies, does not discriminate on the basis of ideology or commercial balance: it is against everyone and everything.»
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: «We will do our best to reach an agreement with the US, in order to avoid a commercial war that will inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players.»
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