BloombergThe EU’s new trade chief on Thursday pulled no punches on an inaugural visit to Washington, saying that US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats amount to short-sighted electioneering and warning him about widespread economic damage from protectionism. “It’s short-term thinking,” Hogan said in a separate video interview with Global Counsel Chairman Peter Mandelson, a former EU trade commissioner. Hogan said Trump is misguidedly “obsessed” with a US deficit in goods trade with the bloc and should also take into account services, where the country has a US$60 billion surplus. Altogether, transatlantic trade in goods and services is worth more than US$3 billion a day, according to Hogan. “We reject the US labeling the EU as a security risk in order to justify the imposition on tariffs,” Hogan said.

Source: Taipei Times January 17, 2020 15:56 UTC