"Trump is opening a real Pandora's box". Klimkin assesses call to impose duties on India and China

In a letter to NATO states on the need for tariffs against India and China, the US president Donald Trump opens a Pandora's Box for the European Union, given its economic relations with New Delhi and Beijing. This opinion was expressed by Pavlo Klimkin, minister of Foreign Affairs (2014-2019) and analyst, in the new issue of "Klimkin Explains" on the YouTube channel LIGA.net.

According to him, Trump's letter "opens another Pandora's box, or a real Pandora's box."

"Trump has imposed tariffs on India: it's a serious story, it's not an empty one, and it's working. But in general, if you look at the trade turnover between the United States and India, most Indian businesses don't really care about it. And most American businesses don't either, because many goods are not critical to these additional tariffs. That is, the Indians are not exactly calm about it, but they are not hysterical," the analyst reminded.

At the same time, he added, if the Europeans impose such duties, it will be "a real blow to the Indians and to the EU's relations" with their country: "You don't need to be a cool geopolitical analyst to see this, just look at the trade turnover."

The former minister noted that the introduction of such duties would be a "real disaster" for Europe.

At the same time, the imposition of restrictions on China will be a turning point for the EU's relations with Beijing, the expert believes.

"The Chinese have always tried to build separate relations with European countries and separate relations with the United States, albeit cautiously," Klimkin said.

He added that Beijing has been trying to "divide the collective west" by targeting the US, EU, Canada, and Australia separately: "If this story fails, the Chinese may also change their strategy."

"This story [about Trump's demand for tariffs] is about them [Europeans] underestimating or overestimating (I don't know which is more) Trump and their efforts and their positioning. They are facing difficult decisions, and Trump has begun to troll them very openly. And the trolling is of such a high political level [...] And he is actually demanding from European countries, first, to join the way he sees the world. Secondly, to join the way it conducts policy towards key global players. And the third is to pursue this policy in the way he wants and by the same means, which are not typical for Europeans at all, and, in my opinion, are largely suicidal for their economy in its current very loose state," the analyst explained.

Klimkin noted that Europeans are now facing "difficult challenges," but they have a chance to overcome them, but they will have to "share something."

The former minister also emphasized that the head of the US is mobilizing Europe with these actions: "Not quite the way I would have liked, but we must honestly admit that even [Russian dictator] Putin did not push Europe to increase defense spending to 5%, but Trump did. And the fact that he started an arms race with Putin is a great story."

The full issue is available at the link at the beginning of the news or below:

• on September 13, US president Trump published "a letter sent to all NATO countries and the world", in which he stated that he was ready to impose "serious sanctions" against Russia when all the countries of the Alliance start doing the same and stop buying Russian oil.
• In addition, the US leader believes that NATO as a group should impose tariffs of 50-100% against China, which can be canceled only after the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war.