CGTN Europe interviewed Marco Forgione, Director General of the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Let's talk now to Marco Forgione, who's Director General of the Chartered Institute of Export
00:04and International Trade.
00:05Good to see you again, Marco.
00:07Welcome back to the program.
00:09Lots going on in the world of tariffs, but let's talk about the EU's response to what
00:13President Trump has in mind.
00:15What effect will that have, do you think?
00:18I think it's part of a bargaining chip that the EU is laying down.
00:23I think they're very keen to open up a negotiation and find a route to a settlement.
00:29If you recall, very soon after President von der Leyen was appointed, she announced
00:37that the EU would shift its purchasing of liquefied natural gas from Russia to the US
00:43in an attempt to bridge the issues with the US.
00:48And Maros Sefcovic recently announced that the tariff on US cars into the EU would be
00:54reviewed.
00:55So I think there's a real ambition to broker a deal, but undoubtedly there is a very real
01:02risk that this tariff, tit-for-tat, is going to escalate.
01:06So US tariffs on aluminium and steel already coming into effect.
01:12What kind of impact will that have, do you think, on businesses and customers?
01:17Well, it's going to have a definite impact.
01:21The UK still have suggested that their customers are going to feel a £100 million hit.
01:29That's going to impact on jobs here in the UK and businesses here in the UK.
01:35I have to say, I really think that the UK government have done exactly the right thing.
01:40This is a time for cool heads and a route to try and negotiate through.
01:46Because President Trump and the new administration in the US are using tariffs not just as a
01:52trade tool, but as a strategic implement to address their America First ambitions and
02:01to very consciously unpick the traditional multilateral administrative system under which
02:08the world is operated.
02:10So this is much more significant than just trade.
02:13So is there anything, do you think, that the international community can do about this
02:17to intervene?
02:18The World Trade Organization, for example?
02:21No, President Trump is very much not keen on working through the WTO.
02:27He is looking for bilateral negotiations to secure deals.
02:31You can see that with what he's doing with Mexico, with Canada, and now with the EU and
02:37with the UK.
02:38So this is about point-to-point, nation-to-nation negotiations to reach deals and agreements.
02:43You mentioned the threat of job losses, perhaps price rises.
02:47What might we see all these tariffs end up doing to the global economy?
02:52I think it's going to be very destabilizing to the global economy and where there's uncertainty,
02:57the reality is that puts pressure on prices, that puts pressure on supply, at a point where
03:02the global supply chain is already vulnerable.
03:06So I think we're in a period of significant economic instability now.
03:12But what that actually means for the UK is that there's a huge potential for the UK to
03:16act as a bridge and to secure a much better trading relationship with the US and address
03:24the friction that exists with regards to trade with the EU.
03:28So I think there's a lot of hard work to do, but the UK could play a really important role
03:35as a central influencer on these two huge trading nations, trading blocs, the US and the EU.
03:42Marco, good to talk to you.
03:44Thank you for joining us.
03:45That's Marco Forgione, Director General of the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade.