EU Vows to Tackle Trade Uncertainty with US Collaboration
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The European Union will do all it can to engage with the U.S. on trade and reduce the massive uncertainty that is weighing down the global economy, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Friday, underscoring unity among the bloc's members.
"What we are trying to do in our engagement with the U.S. through the (European) Commission is try to identify ways in which we can reduce that uncertainty and find a way of reaching an agreement," Donohoe told Reuters during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington.
The meetings have been dominated by a tsunami of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, including a 10% tariff on most countries except China, Mexico and Canada. The import duties have upended the global trading system and are dampening growth.
The IMF on Tuesday slashed its economic forecasts for the U.S., China and most countries, citing the impact of U.S. tariffs now at 100-year highs and warning that rising trade tensions would further slow growth. It forecast global growth of 2.8% for 2025, a cut of half a percentage point from its January forecast.
Donohoe said he was confident the EU would remain unified in its dealings with the U.S. EU Commissioner for the Economy Valdis Dombrovskis is due to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent on Friday.
On Wednesday, Dombrovskis stressed that the EU would prefer to reach a negotiated solution with the U.S. over trade but will respond with countermeasures if discussions do not lead to a solution.
"The trade competence is very clearly with the Commission," Donohoe said. "We will be supporting the Commission in their work and working hard to maintain unity and consensus in the Commission's work, which they are doing an excellent job in maintaining."
Donohoe said this week's meetings in Washington left no doubt about the risks facing the global economy.
"I'm walking away from these meetings with a clear sense of everything that is at stake and the risks that are there for jobs, for growth, for living standards all over the world," he said. "The meetings here ... reminded me of why we need to leave no stone unturned in the next few weeks and months to see how we can reduce that uncertainty."
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul Simao)
