The European Union is open to discussing buying energy and weapons from the United States to prevent tariffs that President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on the bloc. This was stated by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, quoted by "Reuters" and News.bg.
Trump has promised to address the long-standing deficit in trade in goods with the EU through tariffs on more oil and gas exports.
Dombrovskis stressed that the EU would defend its rights and interests if tariffs were imposed, and referred to the retaliatory measures the Union imposed on US imports when EU steel and aluminium were hit by tariffs during Trump's first term.
First of all, however, the EU wants to engage with the new US administration, he noted.
According to him, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US had proved useful when Russia cut off most gas supplies to Europe in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine. The US is currently the EU's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas.
"We are looking for alternative suppliers," Dombrovskis said. "We have had good cooperation over the last few years and we are ready to see how to continue that."
Europe said another possible path could be military spending, given Europe's need to strengthen its defense capabilities to counter Russia, which would require strong cooperation within NATO.
"So there is certainly room for discussion on how to further strengthen our military and military-industrial cooperation," Dombrovskis said.