Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Belgian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Maxime Prévot says the European Union must respond to US President Donald Trump’s economic confrontation. Among the possibilities, concentrating on technology could be one course.
In an interview with Politico, Prévot noted that Trump’s insulting statements about the EU, along with measures taken by the US,
“must lead us to react with similar vigor”
And said that the 450 million-strong EU market
“deserves to be treated differently.”
“We know that, among the sectors likely to bring the greatest sensitivity and responsiveness (from the US – ed.), there is the whole digital component. And so personally, I’m more in favor of also using this lever as part of the battery of counter-fire measures,”
Prévot added.
Furthermore, according to Belgium’s high-ranking official, it is also worth assessing the possibility of utilizing the anti-coercion instrument, which has never been employed in the EU before. The instrument was created after Trump’s first term in office and permits wide-ranging measures in reaction to trade discrimination, such as quotas, tariffs, or limitations on foreign investments.
“This war, particularly on tariffs, is like a boomerang being thrown,”
Prévot stated.
“Those using tariffs are forgetting that (the boomerang – ed.) is coming back.”
Why did Belgian PM De Wever call Trump a bully?
Additionally, at the start of the march, Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever said that Trump is a real bully,’ assuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of continued backing during their meeting in Brussels.
In March, De Wever and Zelenskyy met face-to-face for the first time following a phone call at the end of February. The discussions were held in the Prime Minister’s office located at Rue de la Loi 16, prior to the Extra European summit in Brussels.
“What Trump is doing is very un-European. He is also a real bully,”
Said De Wever after the affairs of the past few weeks.
However, he also said that Belgium will not be cutting relations with the US.
“The US remains historically our most important ally within NATO. That will not change with one president.”
Trump’s policies, therefore,
“does not mean that we have to tear up decades-old treaties. We are explicitly not going to do that,”
De Wever highlighted.
