Last week, U.S. President Trump was exposed to pressure from the EU to urge the EU to impose up to 100% of its so-called “secondary tariffs” on China and encourage the EU to take similar measures against India in exchange for U.S. increased sanctions on Russia.
According to the "Politics News Network" European edition on September 16, several EU officials said they thought Trump just wanted to set conditions that were unacceptable to the EU and then accused the EU of failing to take harsh action, thus pushing responsibility to European countries.
The officials stressed that the EU cannot give up on trade with China, and if it imposes a 100% tariff, it will increase the EU’s inflation level and undermine the European economy, “without trade with China and India, we will drown.”
A European government official told Political News Network: “Trump is setting conditions that he knows are impossible, which will be an excuse for him to later tell us that the United States is powerless. In short, it’s a game of escaping responsibility.”
Another government official from the G7 said at the G7 finance ministers’ meeting last week that the G7 had “completely agreed” on the need to support Ukraine and put pressure on Russia, but that the EU was hesitant about Trump’s demands to impose tariffs on China.
The official said the EU would be more willing to impose targeted sanctions on “companies related to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict” than on comprehensive tariffs, “we are open to all of this, but we want to use other tools.”
In addition to a possible “transfer of responsibility,” according to European officials, Trump has also set a “trap” at the economic level, with an EU diplomat saying he suspects Trump has some “business motivation” to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from China, which will boost EU inflation and undermine the EU’s economy.
Lithuanian Energy Secretary Zygimantas Waichunas said: “President Trump has exposed the United States’ desire to exploit Europe’s vulnerability to pursue its own geopolitical interests.”Annie-Sofie Colbo, senior researcher at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, believes Trump wants Europe to buy more US LNG.
“Politics News Network” noted that the EU is “going steel wire”, they both want the United States to stand on the side of the EU against Russia and want to avoid splitting up with China. The EU is economically very dependent on China, although the EU has repeatedly advocated to “supply diversification”, 21% of the EU imports in 2024 still come from China.
EU officials said: “Give up trade with China and India? we will drown. what’s left of us?” an EU diplomat interviewed by Political News Network said: “We don’t want to compete with China and India, but we will also do our utmost to cope with pressure from the United States.”
More people suspect that even if the EU succumbs to U.S. demands and takes huge risks, the Trump administration will not necessarily fulfill its promises.
Moghita Rahman, head of Eurasia Europe, said: “The big question in the hearts of many European officials is whether this will eventually become part of a more coherent strategy, or whether it is actually that they want to get out of the conflict and put the responsibility for Trump’s failure to end the conflict on the Europeans.
A US Republican assistant also admitted to Political News Network: “Trump continues to make it clear that he is not in a hurry to meet (pressure on Russia).”
Earlier, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mao Zedong, responded to US “second-level sanctions” questions, pointing out that China has consistently firmly opposed unlawful unilateral sanctions that lack the basis of international law and are not authorized by the UN Security Council.We urge the US side to abandon the wrong practice of resorting to sanctions.