Foti: US tariffs will require compensatory measures, but later on

Brussels – The Minister for European Affairs, Tommaso Foti, is not concerned about the US tariffs, which are not an urgent matter, also because “the US market accounts for 12 percent of our exports. It is a lot, but it is not everything.” It is more urgent and feasible to settle the issue of “internal EU tariffs,” which the Commission has been addressing for some time, and which currently weigh as heavily as US tariffs.

In an interview with La Stampa, the minister explains that for the time being, the Union “will continue to negotiate with the US. As for compensatory measures, there is only one assumption at the moment: it is early. Take wine, where there are agreements that still have to be finalized. We will need compensatory measures, of course, but later.”

According to the minister, “it is Europe that must shoulder the burden of the imbalances, considering that not all countries are affected in the same way, depending on the products and exports. At the same time, Brussels must recover productivity margins and eliminate “internal” tariffs, those of bureaucracy, which, according to Mario Draghi, weigh as much as American tariffs.” Foti recalls that “there are already four EU regulatory packages on the table: we hope they will enter into force soon. And it is also necessary for the ECB to address the overvaluation of the euro, perhaps with quantitative easing or a significant further rate cut to balance the euro-dollar ratio.” According to Foti, “tariffs are a complex front, which has to be addressed on several levels.”