Donald Trump says tariff is a “beautiful word”. But he also prides himself on being a dealmaker. So the EU approach to the president-elect’s tariff threats suggested by European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde in an FT interview — “not to retaliate, but to negotiate” — makes sense, at least initially. Any EU offer to buy more US goods to head off a rancorous trade war should, though, be backed up by the understanding that the bloc is ready to retaliate robustly if the returning president does opt for punitive tariffs. Trump would surely seize on anything less as a sign of weakness.
唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)說關稅是一個“美麗的詞”。但他也以自己是一個生意人而自豪。因此，歐洲央行行長克里斯蒂娜?拉加德(Christine Lagarde)在接受英國《金融時報》采訪時提出的歐盟應對這位當選總統關稅威脅的方法——“不是報復，而是談判”——是有道理的，至少最初是這樣。不過，任何歐盟提出購買更多美國商品以避免激烈貿易戰的提議都應該有一個前提，即如果這位即將上任的總統真的選擇征收懲罰性關稅，歐盟將隨時準備采取強有力的報復行動。如果歐盟不這樣做，特朗普肯定會認為其軟弱。