LUSA 08/01/2025

Lusa - Business News - Portugal: President considers EU-US trade agreement 'good for both sides'

Praia da Vitória, Portugal, July 31, 2025 (Lusa) - The president of Portugal said on Thursday that the trade agreement between the European Union and the United States "is good for both sides", stressing that Donald Trump has realised the importance of collaborating with Europe.

Speaking to journalists at Lajes Air Base in Terceira, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed, after being asked about the trade agreement between the US and the EU, that it was positive that US President Donald Trump "has realised that collaboration between America and Europe must be strengthened now and in the future", adding that the agreement "is good for both sides".

Rebelo de Sousa argued that "the figures that came in for economic growth [in the second quarter] in America and Europe and Portugal" are "proof that it's good for both".

"In other words, geopolitics is not indifferent to the economy. Anyone who decides their life economically, from workers to entrepreneurs, knows that it's one thing to decide amid uncertainty and unpredictability who will invest, who will work, who will create more new jobs. Or in a stable situation. The first quarter was dominated by the idea of instability," he said.

He also stressed that these kinds of decisions are always temporary, reversible, depending on the economic situation, and should therefore be analysed very carefully.

The president also said that starting his visit to the Azores at the Lajes Base is "a political signal that everyone understands", emphasising the archipelago's "politically very sensitive" position on geopolitical issues.

The trade agreement between the EU and the United States, reached on Sunday, sets US tariffs on European products at 15 %.

The agreement also includes a commitment by the EU to buy US energy worth $750 billion (around €642 billion) - aimed in particular at replacing Russian gas - an investment of an additional $600 billion (€514 billion) and an increase in purchases of military equipment.

The day after the agreement became known, the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, considered that it "brings predictability and stability" to the economy and "avoids escalation", but warned of the new demands that will arise.

TYRS/ADB // ADB.

Lusa