European CEOs hope common sense will prevail as Trump escalates tariff threats

European business leaders have generally sought to play down concerns about the possibility of a transatlantic trade war this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

the president of the usa Donald Trump has repeatedly engaged Establishing tariffs on goods imported from the European Union, invitation The bloc has warned that it is ready to respond to additional obligations “in a proportionate manner”.

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, the ousted US president said the EU was “very, very bad for us. So they’re going to put tariffs in. It’s the only way … you’re going to get fairness.” .”

His comments came as the Trump administration is also considering imposing an additional 10% tariff on goods imported from China, starting next month.

For business leaders attending the WEF’s annual meeting in Switzerland, the reaction to Trump’s tariff threats has been overwhelmingly mixed.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday he said Trump’s plans to slap duties on US trading partners can be seen positively, saying people need to “get over it”.

Sergio Ermotti, CEO of UBS, while he warned that interest rates would not fall as quickly if US tariffs stoked inflation.

Siemens CEO Roland Busch described the German industrial giant as “tariff proof” amid fears of a US-EU trade war.

Asked about concerns that the tariffs could affect his business, Busch said Siemens is a “global company” that already has a fairly large presence in the US.

“We are doing very (service) locally, equally for other regions, for China (and) Europe,” said Busch.

The CEO of Siemens mentioned the company’s approx A $10 billion acquisition Owned by US engineering software firm Altair, the company recently said it is expanding its US footprint.

“On the other hand, tariffs usually increase inflation by definition, so it doesn’t really help. So I think the idea would be what can we do, what kind of deals do we need to make to really reduce trade tariffs to a minimal level,” Busch told CNBC.

“Free trade and low tariffs, in my opinion, are really the drivers of growth,” he added.

CEO of a Danish wind turbine manufacturer vests he said Thursday that the idea that tariffs will make the world a better place is “a new theory, at least to many of us.”

Vestas’ Henrik Andersen also warned that the additional tax on imported goods is likely to create an inflationary risk.

When asked about the possibility of trade taxes in Europe a sour regulatory environment for green energy In the US, Vestas’ CEO told CNBC: “I think both of them, I will say, make sense.”

SAP Christian Klein said on Thursday that US tariffs would not be helpful, stressing the importance of tech companies reaching deals with trading partners.

“I would say tariffs don’t help global trade. And when you look at the dependencies between Europe and the United States, or the United States and China, I don’t think that’s a good thing,” Klein told CNBC.

SAP’s Klein said he had been talking to several leaders at Davos about how SAP can help them with supply chain and financial software.

“You know, because everybody’s doing business in China. China, of course, wants to continue to do business in the U.S. So in terms of technology, it’s even more important now to build these bridges, to build resilient supply chains, and so in terms of technology,” he added. he had