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Morning opening: Forget markets for a second
Jakub Krupa
US president Donald Trump have signaled no intention to back down on his tariffs policy over the weekend, as he urged reporters to “forget markets for a second” and insisted “we have all the advantages.”
“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said amid continuing slumps on global markets.
This morning, EU ministers will meet in Luxembourg to consider the EU’s response and hear the unfiltered version of EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič’s meetings with US counterparts late last week.
On social media, he said that he told US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Gree that Trump’s tariffs were “damaging” and “unjustified.”
Today he will probably ministers not only on what he thinks of them, but also on what the bloc could do in response as there are first signs of internal divisions within the EU.
Italy and Spain are understood to be among the more cautious countries willing to avoid a further escalation, while France’s Emmanuel Macron leads the more hawkish group, after he appeared to call for suspending French investments in the US as part of the reaction.
I will bring you all the latest political reaction from across Europe, as we also monitor the latest on Ukraine, Le Pen and France, and other stories from the continent.
It’s Monday, 7 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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Markets recording sharp falls across Europe
If you’re interested in what is going on stock markets – a fair warning, it’s not a pretty sight – we have the latest on our business blog below.
UK’s FTSE 100 is 4.8% down, Germany’s DAX40 is 6.25% down, France’s CAC40 is 5.86% down, Stoxx Europe 600 is 5.74% down.
No talks with Europe 'unless they pay us a lot of money on yearly basis', Trump says
And if you’re wondering if there are any signs of Trump intending to soften his position against the EU, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
In comments aboard Air Force One overnight, he said that Europe “has treated us very, very badly,” and “has taken our leaders for a ride”, and declined to hold talks on changing tariffs “unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis”.
He also once again criticised Europe for not spending a fair share on Nato.
Here are his comments in full, carried by Fox News:
The problem is that Europe has made a fortune with us.
You know, Europe also has had a tremendous surplus with the United States. Europe has treated us, is a little smaller, but they’ve treated us very, very badly. China has, but Europe has also. Europe has been very, very bad as Europe has taken our leaders for a ride.
They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our food products, they don’t take anything. If we take their cars, Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, you know, we take their millions of cars. They take no cars. They don’t take our farm product. They don’t take anything, Europe’s treated us very badly …
They are coming to the table, they want to talk, but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis, number one for present, but also for past, because they’ve taken a lot of our wealth away and we are not going to allow for that to happen …
This is not sustainable. The United States can’t lose $1.9tn on trade. We can’t do that and also spend a lot of money on Nato in order to protect European nations, we cover them with military and we then lose money on trade.
The whole thing is crazy, and I got elected on that basis. We explained it. The American people understand it a lot better than the media.
Spain to push for EU aid for industries hit by tariffs, minister says
Spanish economy minister Carlos Cuerpo said he would push the European Union to approve aid for industries hit by US tariffs.
Cuerpo also said on Monday the EU ministers will discuss a list of products to be submitted to retaliatory tariffs in response to the ones on steel, aluminium and cars, Reuters reported.
Cuerpo’s comments follow a speech by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez last week in which he promised a financial package of loans and direct aid worth €14.1 bn, comparing the crisis response to that during the Covid-19 pandemic.
We need 'calm, measured response', Ireland's minister says
EU ministers are expected to start arriving around 10am – I will bring you their doorstep reactions – but we are getting first lines from national leaders.
Ireland’s deputy prime minister and foreign, trade minister Simon Harris told Newstalk Radio that leaders agree on a need for a “calm, measured” response as he sought to play down the prospect of a retaliation on digital services that would be aimed at US big tech companies.
“My strong sense now is that the majority view by some distance is to take a calm, measured response and to try and get the US to the table,” he said.
Targeting digital services is “highly unlikely at this stage,” he said, Reuters reported.
Morning opening: Forget markets for a second
Jakub Krupa
US president Donald Trump have signaled no intention to back down on his tariffs policy over the weekend, as he urged reporters to “forget markets for a second” and insisted “we have all the advantages.”
“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said amid continuing slumps on global markets.
This morning, EU ministers will meet in Luxembourg to consider the EU’s response and hear the unfiltered version of EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič’s meetings with US counterparts late last week.
On social media, he said that he told US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Gree that Trump’s tariffs were “damaging” and “unjustified.”
Today he will probably ministers not only on what he thinks of them, but also on what the bloc could do in response as there are first signs of internal divisions within the EU.
Italy and Spain are understood to be among the more cautious countries willing to avoid a further escalation, while France’s Emmanuel Macron leads the more hawkish group, after he appeared to call for suspending French investments in the US as part of the reaction.
I will bring you all the latest political reaction from across Europe, as we also monitor the latest on Ukraine, Le Pen and France, and other stories from the continent.
It’s Monday, 7 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
