Tutto (COR) condemns Trump’s tariffs: ‘Gone from order to chaos’

Brussels –The tariffs on European products that US President Donald Trump announced are not a problem per se because they produce economic repercussions anyway, but they are a problem because of the broader consequences. “It seems that the world is moving from a system of order to chaos, as evidenced by what happened last night,” said the president of the European Committee of the Regions (Cor), Kata Tutto, the morning after the White House moves. The US tariffs made their way into the plenary session of local government representatives from across Europe, where they tried to remain calm and, above all, firm in their convictions: “Cooperation always wins in the long run,” Tutto stressed, in a clear call to distance themselves from Trump’s America.

With this in mind, it is necessary to think about cohesion policy and the European structural funds that finance it. The Commission has already done so by reviewing the goals that can address new challenges. “There are five new priorities,” recalls Raffaele Fitto, executive vice president of the EU Commission, responsible for Cohesion and Reform. The first of these is competitiveness; through this new goal, we may also be able to respond to the fallout from tariffs. The other four new priorities are defense, housing issues, water management, and energy transition.

Fitto urges considering the possibility of investing here through a different use of cohesion funds by amending proposals to present as soon as possible. The Commission is committed to approving them “by the end of the year” to be operational “in 2026.” On defense, he clarifies the most controversial point and one that finds quite a few reservations and perplexities in the Committee of the Regions: “You cannot buy weapons with cohesion money, only to invest in companies in the sector to create jobs and be more competitive,” the first of the five new priorities that cohesion funds will address.