Lisbon, April 1, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, said on Tuesday that the tariffs that the US President is preparing to present on Wednesday will have to be responded to by the European Union, emphasising that the process will always be negative.
"There may be players who are more affected than others" and “the European Union's response must take account of this balance”, he said on the sidelines of the La Toja Forum, which is taking place today at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
Acknowledging that "raising tariffs at this stage is always negative and implies a counter-response", the minister said Europe had to wait to see what Donald Trump would come up with before determining any retaliation.
Also because "probably [the tariffs] won't just be for the European Union and that could have another impact too," he explained.
The President of the United States promised to unveil a series of new tariffs on 2 April to be applied globally, namely to European Union member states. One of the tariffs would be a 25% tax on all cars imported by the US.
Despite the threats, little has been revealed about the decisions to be presented on what Donald Trump called "Liberation Day", but the White House has promised a "major impact" for the whole world.
"We'll wait for tomorrow's [Wednesday's] decision, we'll see what answers we can give and, as a result, we'll see if we also start a process of talks aimed at reversing this process," said Paulo Rangel, acknowledging that this is a situation in which everyone loses.
"Nobody wins and, if the world economy loses, so do all the citizens who work every day," he said, regretting that the United States has decided to adopt a “very protectionist” stance.
Rangel said today that Europe must diversify its dependencies to react to the changing world order, focusing on relations with Mercosur, Africa, South-East Asia, and the Arab countries.
Despite recognising that the relationship with the United States must remain "a priority for the Iberian states", in "as positive and functional a way as possible", Paulo Rangel considered that "in the future, only those who can depend" on multiple relationships of "economic dependence" will have strategic autonomy.
He said that another area in which Europe must invest is in security and defence, at a time when the United States has been pushing Europe's connection with NATO.
"I know we may not all be convinced yet, but we can't wait any longer. We have to invest, we have to contribute to a European security and defence community," he said.
The foreign minister's speech at the La Toja Forum—which he said was his first since taking office in 2024 and will be one of his last this year before the mid-term parliamentary elections—also praised relations between Portugal and Spain.
"In democracy, Portugal and Spain are experiencing the most fruitful and closest period in the history of many centuries of relations," she said, considering the link to be increasingly fundamental when there is “a structural change in the world order”.
The 3rd edition of the La Toja-Atlantic Link Forum, which is taking place today at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, aims to analyse the structural changes impacting Europe and the rest of the world.
Promoted by the La Toja Foundation, this edition centres the debate on Europe's role in the current geopolitical context, the opportunities and challenges in the new international panorama, and the importance of Iberian cooperation in a context of accelerated transformation.
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