DAVOS: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that he would “defend free trade as the basis of our prosperity”, a day after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs and taxes on trade partners.
“Isolation comes at the expense of prosperity,” Scholz told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We will defend free trade as the basis of our prosperity, together with other partners.”
“Europe is committed to free, fair world trade. And we are not alone in this,” he added.
Trump, in his inaugural address, promised duties on other countries “to enrich our citizens”, and later said he could impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as early as February 1.
Donald Trump holds off on immediate tariffs but plans trade overhaul
“President Trump says ‘America First’ and he means it. There is nothing wrong with keeping your own country’s interests in mind. We all do that,” Scholz said.
“It’s just that cooperation and understanding with others are usually in your own interest as well.”
The German chancellor, who faces elections on February 23, said that “to be clear, the United States is our closest ally outside of Europe. And I will do everything I can to ensure that it stays that way.”
He said his “first good discussions with President Trump and the contacts between our advisors point in this direction”.
Nonetheless, Scholz predicted that Trump and his administration “will keep the world on tenterhooks in the coming years in energy and climate policy, in trade policy, in foreign and security policy.”
“We can and will deal with all of this – without unnecessary excitement and indignation, but also without false ingratiation or pandering.”
Scholz said that strong trans-Atlantic ties were “in our mutual interest” and that “close cooperation between Europe and the USA is essential for peace and security worldwide” and a “driver for successful economic development”.
But the leader of Europe’s biggest economy also argued that “we Europeans must be strong in our own right”.
“We must become even more resilient and competitive, and we have what it takes,” Scholz said.
“As a community of more than 450 million Europeans, we have economic weight. With only 84 million inhabitants, Germany is the third-largest economy in the world.”
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