ROME (Reuters) – The effect of U.S. tariffs on Italian companies will be massive, the head of national industry lobby Confindustria said on Wednesday, calling for Europe to negotiate with President Donald Trump and avoid further escalation.
Trump was poised to impose sweeping new reciprocal tariffs on global trading partners on Wednesday, upending decades of rules-based trade, threatening cost increases and likely drawing retaliation from all sides.
Details of the so-called “Liberation Day” tariff plans were still being formulated and closely held ahead of a White House announcement scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2000 GMT).
“We will have to assess with great attention (the effects) of the tariffs that will be announced by Trump. There is a risk for Italy, our Research Centre is quantifying the impact, which will be massive,” Emanuele Orsini told daily La Stampa in an interview.
Confindustria is due to release a report on the impact of tariffs and the broader outlook for the Italian economy later on Wednesday.
Orsini added that businesses with higher exports – such as the pharmaceutical sector, the fashion and food industries and production machinery – would be those most affected.
He also warned that should “Europe fuel its confrontation with the U.S., China would benefit from it” and hoped that the European Union would remain united in its approach to the U.S.
In response to tariffs, the business leader called for a cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB), new trade deals with countries including Mexico, India, Japan and Thailand and improving the European single market.
Orsini added that he hoped that Italian entrepreneurs would not start to consider relocating production outside of the country as a result of the new tariffs.
The entrepreneur had already said that tariffs on European Union imports would undermine the bloc’s companies and its workforce and require a strong response from the EU.
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Keith Weir)
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