A delegation of MEPs touring to Texas to fulfill American counterparts three days after subsequent week’s US election goals to make first contact with a brand new regime, no matter whether or not Trump or Harris wins, in keeping with its members.
Some 16 MPs are anticipated to fulfill with 12 US Congressmen and Women, in Fort Worth, Texas, in the course of the 89th EU-US Interparliamentary Meeting for a transatlantic dialogue between legislators on 8 and 9 November.
The interparliamentary assembly is often a possibility for legislators from each side of the Atlantic to change views on their legislative agenda and priorities. But this time the journey took on a way of urgency, as Trump touted the imposition of a ten% tariff on all European Union items exported to the United States and questioned U.S. help for Ukraine .
“The goal of the journey is a primary contact with the US Congressional delegation to the EU instantly after the elections,” Italian MEP Brando Benifei, of the Socialists & Democrats, who chairs the Congressional delegation, instructed Euronews. EU, including that the journey would supply a possibility to assist defuse stress ought to Trump win.
During the occasion the Italian will meet the pro-Trump Republican congressman Nathaniel Moran, who chairs the bipartisan US delegation destined to fulfill the Europeans.
“We can’t help a commerce struggle,” Benifei mentioned. “It can be dangerous for the EU and the US in the long term. We won’t help an method that helps elevated tariffs on each side,” he added.
Fellow MEP delegate Željana Zovko (Croatia/European People’s Party) warned of the impression of Trump’s commerce coverage on China and the implications it might have for Europeans.
“If the United States shuts down utterly, China might flip to the European market to promote all its merchandise,” he mentioned. “Whereas the EU is attempting to cut back dangers in its relations with the Chinese, with new commerce agreements impartial of China, with international locations like New Zealand, Chile or Vietnam,” he added.
If Harris wins, talks between US and EU delegations might additionally intention to ease some commerce tensions. Aluminum and metal are nonetheless the topic of negotiations since 2018, when Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on EU metal and 10% on EU aluminium.
After the Biden administration changed these tariffs with quotas, the US agreed in 2023 to proceed the suspension of tariffs till March 2025, whereas the EU agreed to not take retaliatory measures. “Aluminum and metal are nonetheless some issues that we have to overcome,” Benifei admitted.
The tentative agenda for the journey additionally features a working session entitled “The significance of strengthening NATO’s protection capabilities and strengthening transatlantic safety”.
Trump’s menace to not defend NATO members who fail to spend 2% of annual GDP on protection would additionally add to broader US help for Ukraine.
“Our precedence will likely be to equally proceed our joint help for Ukraine with the identical stage of cooperation that we’ve got achieved with the Biden administration and Republican lawmakers,” Zovko mentioned.
