LAST UPDATE | 23 Jan

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump blasted European regulation and trade policies in a video appearance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) today, pledging to slap tariffs on companies that choose to produce outside of the United States.

Beamed in to the WEF conference in Davos, Switzerland on large screens, Trump received a loud round of applause from political and business leaders who had eagerly awaited his appearance all week.

Speaking from the White House, the recently-inaugurated president touted his plans to cut taxes, deregulate industries and crack down on illegal immigration – but he also delivered a tough message.

“Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth,” Trump said.

“But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff.”

For months, the EU has been bracing for possible trade restrictions under a new Trump administration.

But while Trump pledged across-the-board tariffs during the campaign, many economists and analysts have viewed those threats as more of a bargaining chip than a concrete plan.

High on his list of complaints at the World Economic Conference was what he called “unfair” European trading practices.

“They don’t take our farm – essentially don’t take our farm products,” he said.

“They don’t take our cars” and “make it very difficult to bring products into Europe,” he added.

The EU has consistently exported more goods to the United States than it has imported and the US goods trade deficit stood at €155.8bn in 2023, according to Eurostat data.

According to recent ata from the Central Statistics Office, Ireland exported more than €67.4bn worth of goods to the US between January and November 2024, with US imports into Ireland totalling just €20.7bn in the same period.

“We have, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of deficits with the E.U., and nobody’s happy with it,” Trump said of the EU. “We’re going to do something about it.”

The comments made by the 47th US President echoed his claims earlier this week, when he said the EU and other countries also had troubling trade surpluses with the United States.

“The European Union is very, very bad to us,” Trump said, “so they’re going to be in for tariffs. It’s the only way… you’re going to get fairness.”

World Trade Organisation chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala earlier told the Davos meeting that any tit-for-tat trade wars prompted by Trump’s tariff threats would have “catastrophic consequences” for global growth, urging states to refrain from retaliation.

Oil prices

Elsewhere in his wide-ranging speech, Trump made a link between the war in Ukraine and oil prices, saying that he would ask Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to bring down crude prices.

“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” he said.

Ukraine said today said that it “fully” supports Trump’s efforts to lower the cost of oil.

Russia relies heavily on the sale of oil and gas to fund its invasion of Ukraine, an area that Western powers have targeted with sanctions including a price cap on Russian crude.

“We fully support the President of the United States in his efforts to reduce oil prices,” Ukrainian presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said in a post on social media this afternoon.

“A strict price cap and further reduction in the price of a barrel of Russian oil are the path to global security,” he added.

With additional reporting from AFP