Last ditch effort

Just days before the new US administration officially imposed a 25% trade protection tariff on EU goods exported to the US market, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic traveled to Washington to meet with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. This is considered the EU's last-ditch effort to prevent a new round of trade conflict between the two sides.

Trade conflict is a game where both the US and the EU can only lose and no one can win.

Like Canada, Mexico and China - all of which are major US trading partners and have been targeted by the new US administration with protectionist tariffs - the EU has responded with a sort of "dual strategy" that involves both literally and figuratively retaliating against the US in the "tit for tat" sense and at the same time proactively negotiating with the US to reach some sort of political and trade agreement that could help prevent the trade conflict between the two sides from erupting.

Such negotiations are the last chance for both sides to prevent trade conflicts and proactively seeking dialogue with the US on this issue to a certain extent is also a goodwill of the EU. This bloc is an alliance of 27 European countries, not a single country like Canada, Mexico or China. The EU represents all members of the alliance when dealing with foreign relations. Therefore, the EU has no other choice but to respond equally to the US when the US unilaterally imposes trade protection tariffs.

Trade conflicts are a game where both the US and the EU can only lose and no one can win. Therefore, for the EU, it is better to avoid being harmed than to be harmed together with the US. Such efforts can prevent trade conflicts with the US. Even if they fail, the EU can still escape internal difficulties and dilemmas, and at the same time, it can isolate the US internationally and gain the world's support on this issue.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/no-luc-cuu-van-cuoi-cung-185250326210556266.htm