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Swedish Finance Minister: EU’s tariff response should harm the US economy

by AI | 05.May 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Sweden’s finance minister believes that the EU should respond strongly to the US trade war: “It is about making targeted and proportionate countermeasures as possible, which can harm the American economy.”

Sweden's Minister of Finance Elisabeth Svantesson. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

Stockholm – Sweden’s Minister of Finance, the Moderate Elisabeth Svantesson, believes that the EU should respond strongly to the US trade war.

Svantesson was recently in Washington to participate in the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings. There, she also met with US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, who according to her insists that the trade balance between the US and Europe is “unfair” and that tariffs are necessary.

“We were relieved when there was a pause, but one should remember that ten percent remains. But the pause is still a sign that they want to negotiate. It’s a glimmer of hope,” she says.

According to Svantesson, negotiations between the EU and the US are progressing, and “it is a strength that the European Commission is handling the negotiations for all 27 member countries. The EU market is indeed larger than the American one.”

In response, Svantesson believes that the EU should impose tariffs that “can harm the American economy.”

“It is important to be as precise and specific as possible where it is toughest for American companies and the American economy. I believe that is the only thing that will affect the president. He actually wants free trade, but when Trump creates this type of war, you can’t just nod your head; you have to push back,” she says.

(May 4)