“I don’t think it was a good deal for Europe. This seems evident to me. Just understanding a bit of the economic interaction between the two blocks – the United States and the European Union – reveals that most tariffs, I think in 99% of cases, were around 1.5% and are now expected to rise to around 15%,” declared André Ventura.
The president of Chega spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the party’s candidacy for Lisbon City Hall, in an event held at the Carlos Lopes Pavilion in the capital’s center.
When questioned about the agreement reached with the United States regarding tariffs, André Ventura asserted that “Europe, once again, negotiated poorly.”
“The basis of this issue is fundamentally a weak European bloc, with weak leaders and a weak European Commission. Those who praised the agreement so far have been the president of the European Commission who established it and even the president of the European Council, António Costa, of the same line,” indicated the Chega party leader, noting that the United Kingdom managed to secure a better deal alone than Europe did with the United States.
For André Ventura, this is “a bad deal” for European industry and for Portuguese industry, including the wine, metalworking, footwear, textile sectors, and the automotive industry, which while not significantly impacting Portuguese industry, holds great weight in the German economy, affecting all of Europe.”
“What happened here was that Europe, once again, out of fear of consequences and fear of asserting itself, ended up allowing a deal that is bad for it, the deal with the United States is bad for it, and so are the deals with China,” he elaborated.
Remembering that the European Union is economically the largest bloc in the world, the president of Chega stressed the necessity to protect European industry.
“What one genuinely derives from this agreement is that the United States benefited much more from this agreement than Europe,” André Ventura reiterated, advocating for a deal where at minimum, the parties would be equally affected.
Adopting a stance in defense of the national economy, including jobs, the Chega leader explained that this means “retaliating against everyone” who threatens to impose any form of limitation, by responding that if they do, tariffs “will be applied doubled or tripled.”
Regarding whether the alternative to this agreement would be a trade war, André Ventura responded: “There are moments in life when using force is making peace. I think the quote is from Winston Churchill, not mine, but there are moments in life when it is truly like that. We have to use force to make peace.”
“If we had used more force, maybe the war in Ukraine wouldn’t have happened. If we had used more force, maybe the Middle East wouldn’t be as it is now. If we had used more force, maybe the United States wouldn’t feel free to impose on Europe what they want to impose,” he added.
The trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States, reached on Sunday, sets the American customs tariffs on European products at 15%.
The agreement also includes the EU’s commitment to purchase $750 billion (approximately 642 billion euros) worth of American energy – specifically aiming to replace Russian gas – an additional $600 billion investment (514 billion euros), and an increase in military material acquisitions.
The US and EU countries exchange approximately 4.4 billion euros in goods and services daily.
