U.S. reciprocal tariff plan is unproductive, says Netherlands FM ahead of announcement

Netherlands' Foreign Minister warns of EU's united response to U.S. tariffs, calls for India-EU collaboration on trade impacts.

Hours ahead of the U.S. announcement of reciprocal tariffs, Netherland’s Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp warned that Europe’s response to the tariffs would be “unitary, proportional and robust”, calling for India and the European Union to “compare notes” on their effects.

Speaking during a two-day visit to India, Mr. Veldkamp warned that the tariffs would be unproductive and would also have an inflationary impact on the U.S. economy.

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“It is important to compare notes between the EU member states and India on these matters, because these [tariffs] affect all of us,” he said in response to a question from The Hindu during an interaction with journalists.

“We in the Netherlands, as a trading country and a trading hub, are surprised. We believe that trade contributes to the prosperity of our nations and tariffs infringe on that. In the end, they will not be beneficial for the American consumer; there will be inflationary pressure [that] these tariffs will bring to bear on the U.S. economy,” Mr. Veldkamp added, stressing that all decisions on these matters would be made collectively for the EU in Brussels. 

The U.S. tariffs due to be announced on April 2 will be watched closely in India, which is already in talks with the United States for a Bilateral Trading Agreement (BTA) that is expected to push Indian tariff levels lower and open up sectors like agriculture and dairy for market access. When asked about how the Netherlands, one of the world’s biggest dairy exporters, sees the BTA negotiations , Mr. Veldkamp said that it would be important for the EU to see “to what extent India can come to agreements”, indicating that the EU may expect similar concessions from India in the India-EU Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), which is being negotiated simultaneously.

The Dutch Foreign Minister held meetings with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, where a number of trade, investment, defence, and security issues are on the agenda, along with talks on  “semiconductors, digital technologies, renewable energy” and other areas, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.