Europe and the United States should focus their efforts on taking greater responsibility for the defense of the European continent instead of creating economic uncertainty through trade disputes. This was stated by the President of the European Council António Costa to journalists before the start of the G-7 summit in Canada, together with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, reported „Reuters“, reports News.bg.
Costa stressed that the G-7 forum is an opportunity to discuss „some problems“ between allies and friends, with the main issue, in his opinion, remaining the issue of European defense.
„Since this is the main problem, we must avoid introducing other issues that undermine our economic capacity to take greater responsibility for our own security“, he said.
Ursula von der Leyen noted that trade negotiations between the EU and the US are continuing, but for now there is no certainty about a future deal.
Costa added that it is highly undesirable to create economic uncertainty at this time:
„This is not the right time to create problems in trade. We need to strengthen our economic foundation. The trade relationship between the US and the EU is the most important in the world – and we need to protect it. Let's focus on what matters most: a good agreement on burden-sharing in defense.“
Von der Leyen, for her part, stressed the importance of free trade, warning against protectionism:
“This is an important message - a message that the G7 can send both to the markets and to the world,“ she said.