Catherine Field: Europe Correspondent on the Union preparing to respond to Trump's tariff threats

The European Union is focusing on who will be the best voice to respond to Donald Trump's threat of tariffs. 

Leaders have been meeting in Brussels over the US President's return to power, who’s already floating the idea of imposing tariffs on the bloc. 

Trump has today delayed 25% tariffs on Mexico by a month, while Canada has already imposed tariffs of its own in response to the US. 

Europe correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking one option is Italy, who's hoping to play mediator for both sides. 

She says another option is Germany, who's reluctant to impose tariffs because they export so many cars to the US. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Catherine, how are you.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm fine, Thank you, Michael, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Very keen to ask you about Starmer hanging out with
all you guys in Europe, but I'll come to that
in just a couple of moment. How freaked out is
Europe over all? That's unfolding in front of your eyes
as we speak.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Well, very freaked out since Donald Trump took off, As
of course, mines have been somewhat fun or focused, not
just on of course aggressive Russia and need for the
US to be an ally, but also of course of
Trump's conversations that he's been having with Denmark over Greenland. Now,

(00:36):
just as I'm speaking, the twenty seven EU leaders are
meeting in Brussels. They've been meeting all day Monday. This
is so called informal retreat where they can talk to
another hopefully come up with some sort of policy when
it comes to defense. The problem is this, Mike, is
that Europe realizes that the US is its major ally

(00:58):
and really when it comes to defending itself, Europe needs
the US. It really doesn't have the defense capability to
protect itself against Russia or anyone else. So they've got
to figure out what they do when they've got such
an uncertain ally in the White House now. President Macron
of France has been going on for ages about what

(01:21):
he called this European strategic autonomy, this idea that Europe
needs to do everything on its own, has to be
able to stand on its own two feet. But the
problem with that, mic is, as we saw in the
early days of the Ukraine or the EU just does
not have the military industrial capacity to be able to
raank up the military capacity. You cannot make enough shells,

(01:45):
cannot make enough tangs. None of this can be done.
So that's what they're going to try and decide how
far they go with that. The next problem is the course, Mike,
a lot of those EU countries do not want to
upset the US. You look at countries in Eastern Europe
preserve that relationship with the US. So they say, well, okay,
let's put more money into defense spenditure, but we're going

(02:07):
to need to spend it in the US, buy US
weapons because of we sort of if you like, if
you hook the US into Europe's defense, then they will
remain committed to the US, to the EU. So that's
the idea. You've got twenty seven nations all having different ideas,
but which way to go next?

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Right, So here's your next problem. So you talk about
terrorists for example, So Germany's about to change administrations. Highly
likely they're going to be isolationist and more conservative. So
that's potentially a trade war, which is different to macron
which is different. You know what I'm saying, it's do
they do it alone or do they do it together?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, they're trying, and it seems very difficult to see
how they can have united position. You've got things like
Hungry and Slovakia that are so pro Russia that really
sometimes you hear what they're saying and you think, wow,
you know, did that come straight out of Putin's speech
writer or did they write that themselves. Then you have

(03:02):
other countries that really are kind of ready to do
some sort of deal with the US, particularly when it
comes to you to trade. There is a realization that
the trade deficit between the EU and the US has
been widening since about two thousand and nine. The EU
does export more to the US than it brings in.

(03:25):
But you just look at it today, Mike, and this
is what might be focusing Brains more and Brussels at
this moment. Is that all the European and ended in
the red today just on the idea that there was
going to be this trade dispute. So they're going to
have to focus on it, and they're going to have
to decide who's going to be the one who's going
to talk for everyone. Is it going to be Italy

(03:45):
who's looking to be that mediator between Europe and the US?
Or are we all going to sort of line up
behind Germany that's absolutely reluctant to introduce tarists because they
export so many cars to the US. Quick.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
What's that sneaky little starmer doing there? Is he looking
to do something with Brexit EU? All of that or not?

Speaker 2 (04:07):
He is trying to get more trade, freer trade with
the EU and also trying to pave the way for
this story which we've covered so much. Might we hear
so much about fishing rights in the Atlantic?

Speaker 1 (04:18):
All right, Nice to talk to you as always, Katherine
Catherine Field out of France. Putin says Europe will stand
at the feet of the master. He is loving it.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
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