Lisbon, April 8, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's government is preparing a "robust" plan with measures to support companies from the fallout from the tariffs applied by US President Donald Trump, the president of ATP - Textile and Clothing Association of Portugal told Lusa on Tuesday.
According to Mário Jorge Machado, who met with the minister of economy, Pedro Reis, on Tuesday as part of several meetings with business associations, the government is "assessing the situation very carefully" and is "drawing up a very robust plan of a series of measures to support industry sectors, including textiles and clothing.
"The minister has conveyed a lot of confidence that he will soon present a set of very comprehensive measures, from training, internationalisation and export aid," he continued, pointing out that companies are "going through a very complex time in terms of tradable goods, particularly industrial goods."
The ATP president admitted that the sector has "a lot of exposure to the American market, directly and indirectly, because Portugal exports close to five hundred million euros to the United States" but it also sells "many products to Europe" made to order for "European, Italian, French and Scandinavian brands" that then go to the US.
Asked about concrete measures, the ATP president said that the minister "said [he] would announce them soon", but that he was still listening to other associations.
According to Machado, the amounts involved have not yet been disclosed, adding that there may be "some aspect that may involve state aid, and therefore the European Commission will also have to be involved."
Ministry of Economy officials are meeting with business associations from various sectors on Tuesday and Wednesday to assess "the impact and mitigation measures" of the tariffs that Trump announced on Wednesday, of 20% on products imported from the EU and in addition to the 25% tariffs on the automotive, steel and aluminium sectors.
The new tariffs are, according to Trump, an attempt to ensure that US industry recovers while punishing countries for what he said were years of unfair trade practices.
ALN/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
