Europe will face a challenge in coming to terms with incoming President Trump, who is threatening the continent, especially the car industry, with trade tariffs, an article in Germany’s Die Zeit states, as reported by Mandiner.
“I love tariffs,” Trump has said over and over again in recent months, Die Zeit notes, mentioning that the president wants to raise import tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada by 25 percent. Such talk has Europe, especially Germany, on alert.
In 2023 alone, German goods worth around €158 billion were exported to the United States, nearly 10 percent of total German exports.
So, who will the EU use to influence Trump and be its chief negotiator? Officially, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is responsible for this task, but there is much talk about who could be more successful in this role. And one name that has come up is Hungary’s Orbán.
“We need to ask ourselves who Trump is willing to reasonably negotiate with on trade policy issues,” the German paper quotes Austrian economist Gabriel Felbermayr, noting that Felbermayr has introduced the idea of the EU sending Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Washington.
The economist also highlighted how critical the auto sector is in Hungary, with it set to be one of the biggest losers in a transatlantic trade war, giving extra incentive to Orbán to take on this role.
Orbán is generally against tariffs and warned the EU of an “economic cold war” with China over tariffs targeting electric vehicles.
Viktor Orbán: "What the EU is doing is an economic Cold War." pic.twitter.com/aj1leyepkk
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 6, 2024However, the Hungarian leader may need further incentive to go to bat for the EU, given that Brussels has frozen billions in funding to the country and actively worked to remove Orbán from power.
