'Lose-lose scenario': Employers’ federations fear impact of US tariffs
The additional American import duties announced by Donald Trump this week threaten to hit Belgium directly and indirectly, according to Belgium’s largest employers’ association.
Olivier Joris, director of European and International Affairs at the study centre of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises, says the move will damage Belgium, Europe and the global economy. He fears Belgian companies will be affected in two ways by the 20 per cent tariff imposed on goods from the EU.
“First, there is the impact on our bilateral trade relationship with the United States,” he said. “The Americans are our fourth largest trading partner after Germany, France and the Netherlands. The announced additional 20 per cent tax is therefore obviously very bad news.”
Hit twice
Belgium also exports numerous semi-finished components to countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands, which export finished products to the United States. “So we could be hit twice,” Joris said.
The tariffs will affect various types of Belgian exports, from chemical products and machinery to cars and food. According to Joris, it is too early to put a figure on the impact, but the damaging effect is “inevitable”.
"As a small export-oriented economy, the measures will hit us hard"
“We think this is a lose-lose scenario,” he said. “European and Belgian products will become less competitive, but it may also lead to inflation in the US.”
Flemish employers’ organisation Voka, meanwhile, has called for Europe to negotiate quickly with the US and take proportionate and targeted countermeasures, without starting a global trade war.
Voka calls the import levies “a sledgehammer blow”. “As a small export-oriented economy, the measures will hit us hard,” it says. The organisation estimates that the move could cost the Belgian economy up to 12 billion euros a year.
Managing director Hans Maertens said the tariffs were worse than previously feared. “Our companies live off exports," he said. "We call on our governments and the European Union not to start a global trade war, and to take countermeasures that are proportional and targeted.”
"We are all going to feel the effects"
MEP Kathleen Van Brempt, of Flemish socialists Vooruit, said Trump’s policy was “fuelling inflation, hurting businesses and affecting the global economy. He is pushing prices up and purchasing power and competitiveness down. We are all going to feel the effects.”
She said he had “no reason whatsoever to stop” as long as his tariff policy yields results, and warned that Europe’s response should not lead to escalation.
Trade war
“We can, of course, impose retaliatory tariffs, but that is not the best choice at the moment,” she said. “That would only lead to further escalation and, moreover, we would also hurt ourselves.”
In a statement, Foreign Affairs minister Maxime Prévot of Les Engagés called for greater economic cooperation between the US and Europe.
“Our economies are closely linked, and it is in everyone’s interest to strengthen this cooperation rather than disrupt it," he said. "No one wins in a trade war. Instead of building new barriers, we must build bridges."
The bodyshop at the Volvo Cars plant in Ghent, 24 March 2025 © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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