EU should listen to Trump but never bow to his demands – European Commission vice-president
The EU should listen to US President Donald Trump but never yield to his demands, Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s vice-president, stated in an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday.
Brussels should listen to but not blindly accept demands from Washington to ditch laws on ‘green’ supply chains and social media regulation, Ribera told FT.
Her remarks come amid growing tension between the Trump administration and the EU, with Washington increasingly criticizing the bloc for what it describes as an excessive reliance on regulation and censorship of free speech. In particular, the EU’s digital rulebook has become a major point of contention between Brussels and Trump.
”It’s not by chance that it’s the green and digital agenda that are under threat. They are the main drivers of competitiveness,” the commission’s executive vice-president told the Financial Times.
Following the EU’s multi-billion dollar fines against Google and Apple earlier this year, Trump threatened to impose further tariffs on the bloc, accusing it of “discriminatory actions” that he argued would impact US taxpayers.
Since Trump’s return to the White House earlier this year, EU-US relations have come under strain due to disputes over trade, defense spending and digital regulation.
Washington and Brussels have also increasingly clashed over the Ukraine conflict settlement process, with Trump sidelining the EU and UK from peace talks earlier this year.
More recently, Kiev’s Western European backers have moved to sabotage the US president’s settlement roadmap, while preparing for a direct conflict with Russia, according to Moscow.
