US, EU trade war would only have losers, German finance minister says

By Maria Martinez

A trade conflict between the United States and the European Union would not see any winner but only losers, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told Reuters in an interview.

Lindner said he was following the toss-up U.S. presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, and saw the risk of tariffs in the next U.S. administration.

"Whoever will enter the White House, we are at the forefront of a new era of transatlantic diplomacy to convince our U.S. partners that we need more or less a new trade agreement between the US and the EU instead of introducing tariffs," Lindner said.

Beyond tariffs, Trump has vowed to "get out" of the nearly three-year war between Ukraine and Russia. That threat helped to motivate the current U.S. administration of Democrat Joe Biden to finalise its $20 billion portion of a long-awaited $50 billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets.

The U.S. announced on Wednesday plans to start making funds available by year-end for economic and military aid. This will be placed alongside a separate $20 billion European Union commitment and $10 billion to be split by G7 allies Britain, Japan and Canada.

Lindner said the EU is finishing the technical details of its portion, but it is "more or less finalised on the political level."

"We have seen a breakthrough this week," Lindner said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings. "It is a symbol of unity among the G7 and the European Union and it is a strong message to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that we stand with Ukraine as long as it takes."

Lindner told Reuters there will be an announcement on the EU side very soon, without giving further details.