The Government prepares a package of direct aid to the sectors threatened by Trump’s trade war | Spain
The government prepares for the impact that The commercial war that Donald Trump will detail at the last minute of the day in Spain It can have in the sectors most exposed to US reprisals against the EU with the excuse of the commercial balance favorable to Brussels. The alert in La Moncloa has been maximum for weeks because of the consequences they can have in sectors very exposed to tariffs such as agriculture, wine and car, fields in which Spain is a world power. Pedro Sánchez has ordered an response plan that includes direct aid for primary sector, automobile or metallurgical companies. The consulted government sources appeal to prudence and underline that the measures cannot be specified for the moment until the scope of Trump’s measures. « That the affected sectors, both of aluminum, steel, such as oil and wine production, are very affected, that is, the affected sectors, which we are going to do the same thing we did in Pandemia. The government will save the affected sectors and we will save the workers and the workers, » Yolanda Díaz, Second Vice President and Labor Minister in an interview in RNE.
The President of the Government plans to appear this Thursday and transmit an image of tranquility and trust after receiving several representatives of the productive fabric. « If these tariffs are imposed, we will respond decision and defend ourselves. We will act quickly, proportionality and unity, » the president warned on Monday. « We are silent because we are aware of what Trump says. Maximum prudence. To a European reaction we will have to wait almost certainly to Thursday, » they explain in the executive’s dome.
The president will have host today in the afternoon at a meeting attended by the union and employer leaders, another sample of the concern generated by the tariff threat of the US administration. Sánchez has summoned at 18.00 the presidents of CEOE and Cepyme, Antonio Garamendi and Gerardo Cuerva, and the general secretaries of CC OO and UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, to analyze the current geopolitical situation in the Moncloa complex. The meeting will be attended by Yolanda Díaz, Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy; Jordi Hereu, Minister of Industry and Tourism; Luis Planas, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and Carlos Corps, Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business.
Waiting for the end of the countdown and Trump concrete the tariffs of what he has called as the « Day of Liberation », the Executive has insisted the last hours to move a message of security and firmness. « From the European Union and from Spain we have stated that we want to reach a solution agreed with the United States, because we must protect the privileged relationship that we have forged and because the tariffs end up being harmful to all. In the case that the United States finally imposes measures, it would be unjustified, unjustified measures, and the European Union has the necessary tools to respond to them. We will respond, as always, as always, in a fair way, in a fair way. The Minister of Economy has observed on Wednesday.
« It is in the DNA of the European Union to maintain multilateral vision, the will to negotiate, but without being naive when protecting our workers, industries and companies, » he insisted, which has called for calm and avoid falling into speculation or trying to anticipate the response to the commercial war initiated by Washington. « We hope to see what is announced. From there, we can already make an assessment, although as the government president himself has already expressed: Spain will support the sectors that can be affected from day one, » said the minister. The government has already met with the sectors of steel and aluminum, the car and the components or alcoholic wine and drinks, precisely the sectors that Sanchez plans to be seen this Thursday. « This is the way we will continue working, maintaining direct and continuous contact, and being on the side of our companies and our workers, » said body.
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has been especially hard with the commercial war, which for referents of economic and conservative liberalism like The Wall Street Journal is the « most silly in history », and has asked Sanchez to contact the regional presidents to launch « a contingency plan » against Trump’s tariffs. « It is not the day of liberation, it is the day of concern. If the US administration breaks the free trade agreement and begins to put tariffs, it needs an equally overwhelming and proportional response, if they persist in attacking European products, we have to respond in the same proportionality (…) It is an absolutely wrong decision, » said Feijóo in an interview in Antena 3. Before the tariff The White House, the head of the opposition has asked Sanchez to telephone the regional presidents – the PP presides 11 communities in addition to the cities of Ceuta and Melilla – and launch a common “contingency plan” to deal with economic consequences. The leader of the popular has also underlined his « independence » in the face of Vox’s position, which has remained on the side of Trump since the inauguration despite the attack on the interests of European and Spanish products, maintaining an « complicit silence, » said Feijóo. In parallel, Fuentes de Genoa argue that « there is a window of opportunity » to unmark the formation of Santiago Abascal in this geopolitical matter, Virginia Martínez reports.
