US President Donald Trump has pledged to address the long-standing trade deficit with the European Union (EU) by taxing or boosting oil and gas exports from the US.
European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the EU would defend its interests if tariffs were imposed, recalling the retaliatory tariffs the EU had imposed on US goods when EU steel and aluminum were taxed during Donald Trump's first term.
However, Mr Dombrovskis also stressed that the EU's top priority was dialogue with the new US administration. Speaking in an interview with Reuters in Davos, he said that imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US had been useful when Russia cut off most of its gas supplies to Europe in 2022 following the conflict in Ukraine. Currently, the US is the EU's largest LNG supplier.
“We are looking for alternative suppliers. We have had good cooperation over the past few years and the EU is ready to look at ways to expand this cooperation,” said Mr. Dombrovskis.
Another direction the EU has proposed is defense spending, as Europe needs to strengthen its defense capabilities to counter Russia, which requires close cooperation within NATO.
“Therefore, there is certainly an opportunity to discuss how we can strengthen military and defense industry cooperation,” Dombrovskis said.
