Former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, has suggested that the EU should counter President Donald Trump‘s tariff strategy by reducing their own tariffs on U.S. imports to zero.
What Happened: In a recent podcast, Scaramucci put forth this strategy. Rather than retaliating against Trump’s 25% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium imports with their own tariffs, Scaramucci proposed that the EU should “outgame” Trump by playing his game and reducing their tariffs to zero.
Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s spokesman for a brief period in 2017, urged ministers and officials in Brussels to consider this alternative approach. He drew parallels with Ronald Reagan‘s 1981 strategy of eliminating Pershing missiles in West Germany if the Soviet Union reciprocated in East Germany.
“I would caution ministers and people in Brussels. If you want to outgame Trump, play his game, lower your tariffs. Ronald Reagan in 1981 went with a zero option. He said he would zero-out the Pershing missiles in West Germany if the Soviet Union did the same thing in East Germany, and so play his game. Cut your tariffs to zero,” he said in the interview.
Speaking about Trump’s potential efforts to bring back taxes and jobs created by US tech and pharma multinationals in Ireland, Scaramucci expressed doubt about Trump’s ability to dismantle Ireland’s FDI sector, which provides employment to 300,000 people.
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“He was opining about the genius of your country with the tax engineering to get the multinationals over here, but he didn’t say, hey, and I’m going to fix it. Hey, I’m going to change it,” Scaramucci added.
While acknowledging that Trump has previously lauded Ireland’s success in attracting US firms with its low corporation tax, Scaramucci expressed skepticism that Trump could significantly impact this, even with a proposed 15% corporate tax rate.
Scaramucci concluded by stating that Trump lacks a mechanism to disrupt Ireland’s corporation tax regime, despite any potential threats he may have made to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Why It Matters: Scaramucci’s proposed strategy could potentially change the dynamics of the ongoing tariff war between the EU and the US. By adopting a zero-tariff approach, the EU could potentially “outgame” Trump and force a reconsideration of the current US tariff strategy.
This could have significant implications for international trade and economic relations between the two regions.
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