Open Questions | ‘Only game in town’: Spain’s Arancha Gonzalez says China, EU can thrive despite Trump 2.0
Former top diplomat says EU’s problems are not about Trump, and both China and the bloc must choose between maintaining existing trade relations or ‘chaos’
We’re going to face three big challenges: trade tariffs, hostility towards climate change and the most important for Europe, which is the desire expressed by the incoming president to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
And this [Ukraine war] is probably seen from Europe as the most consequential one. First, as Europeans, we believe that this conversation should be with Ukraine and not on Ukraine. And it should be with Europeans and not against Europeans.
For Europeans, the manner in which this conflict is addressed will be the bar of deterrence vis-a-vis Russia, and we do not want this bar to be too low. But more importantly, I think this is a very important question for the [Asia-Pacific] region because it will also be a test of the credibility of the United States as an ally to many countries in this region.
How will the tariffs and climate issues that you mentioned in Trump’s coming presidency affect the EU?
It is pretty clear that there will be tariffs, and that they will be applied to every economy in the world. They will be tougher on China, and they will disrupt the economy. I think they will bring no clear benefits to the US because the problems of the US do not have to do with tariffs.
