U.S. President Donald Trump slammed Spain's refusal to accept new defense spending targets set by NATO at a NATO summit on 25 local time, and hinted at the possibility of doubling tariffs on Spain as a punishment Trump threat: tariffs doubled!
Trump said of Spain's unwillingness to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, "You're the only country that hasn't contributed. I don't know what your problem is.
He added: "We'll make it up. You know, we're talking to Spain about a trade deal and we'll make them pay twice as much. I'm serious."
After Trump's comments, Spain's benchmark stock index extended its losses to end down 1.59 percent.
The current NATO summit unanimously agreed to raise defense spending by member countries to 5 percent of GDP. But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has rejected this new target, saying that the country can at most raise military spending to 2.1 percent, “no more, no less.”
A Spanish government spokesman responded, “We ignore Trump's comments and reaffirm our commitment to NATO.”EU to take more countermeasures
According to Xinhua News Agency, citing the British “Financial Times” reported on the 24th, the European Commission President von der Leyen's chief of staff, Bjorn Seibert, said that before the July 9 deadline for trade talks between Europe and the U.S., the European Union needs to harmonize its position within the European Union, ready to take more tariffs against the U.S. countermeasures to the U.S., in order to form a “tangible threat” to the U.S..
Seibert said Von der Leyen is prepared to take tariff countermeasure escalation measures against the U.S. in an effort to secure a better deal.He wants EU member states to support a package of tariffs on 95 billion euros worth of U.S. goods and said the EU is also preparing measures targeting the services sector, including taxes on U.S. tech companies and restrictions on U.S. firms' access to public procurement contracts.Von der Leyen recently said that in the negotiations, if it involves the sovereign decision-making process of the EU and its member states, this is the U.S. side “can not be touched”.German Chancellor Mertz emphasized that the German government will support tougher measures against the United States. He said that if no agreement is reached between Europe and the United States, the German side will take a variety of countermeasures to defend its own interests. If the current trade dispute escalates further, it will not be favorable to any party.Retaliatory tariffs delayed until July 14 Currently, the U.S. imposes 50% tariffs on EU steel and aluminum products, 25% tariffs on the automotive sector, and 10% baseline tariffs on almost all other goods. President Trump has also threatened to impose 50% tariffs on EU goods if there is no breakthrough in US-EU trade talks by July 9th.In response, the EU had decided to impose tariffs of up to 50 percent on U.S. imports totaling 21 billion euros. However, this retaliatory measure was postponed to July 14 to allow time for trade negotiations.
EU negotiators have admitted that they will not be able to get Trump to rescind his decision to impose a benchmark 10 percent tariff on all EU exports. Their goal is to reduce the additional tariffs imposed by the United States in areas such as steel and aluminum and automobiles.
The EU spokesman also said that internal consultations are under way on retaliatory measures against the tariff increases imposed by the United States. If the negotiations between Europe and the United States fail to yield satisfactory results, the EU will retain the possibility of using countermeasures.
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