BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union will be ready for tough negotiations with the United States to protect its own interests and will be pragmatic in trying to find solutions, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said as Europe braces for potential new U.S. tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared at the weekend that he will soon impose tariffs on imports from the EU. At an informal meeting in Brussels on Monday, the bloc’s 27 leaders discussed how to tackle the evolving relationship with Washington.
“A lot is at stake on both sides,” von der Leyen told a conference of EU ambassadors on Tuesday.
“There are jobs, businesses, industries here and in the United States that rely on the transatlantic partnership,” she said in Brussels.
The Commission president said Europe will be tough in its dealings with Washington.
“Our first priority is now to work on the many areas where the interests converge,” she said, pointing to critical supply chains and emerging technologies.
“We will be ready for tough negotiations where needed and to find solutions where possible, to work out any grievances and to set the foundations for a stronger partnership,” she said.
“We will be open and pragmatic in how to achieve that. But we will make it equally clear that we will always protect our own interests.”
Von der Leyen said the EU must recognise the realities of global politics.
“The view of a world trending towards ever-more-cooperation and hyper-globalisation has become outdated,” she said.
“Europe must deal with the world as we find it.”
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Lili Bayer and Jan Strupczewski; Editing by GV De Clercq and Ros Russell)
