Next week, US President Donald Trump will introduce 25-percent tariffs on all vehicles manufactured outside the USA, and soon the same will apply to vehicle components.
How the EU will respond to this, and how it will ultimately affect the Swedish economy, is unclear. Sweden has, in any case, sent a list to the EU Commission of goods that it wants to be exempt from potential countermeasures against the USA.
The countermeasures that the EU is now forced to respond with, we have wanted to protect Swedish jobs and the Swedish economy, of course, and wanted to minimize the impact on Swedish industry as much as possible, says Benjamin Dousa.
Identified key goods
The EU Commission has sent out a gross list of products that may be subject to tariffs from the EU's side against the USA. Based on this, talks have been held from a Swedish perspective with the business community and the expert authority, the National Board of Trade, to identify so-called input goods that are important for Swedish industry.
This includes, among other things, kaolin - a clay mineral used in, for example, paper pulp production, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. But also a specific type of oak wood, soda and sulfate pulp, and certain plastic products.
About seven percent of our imports from the USA are covered by this gross list that has been presented. And of those seven percent, three percent are input goods that are important for our industry, says Benjamin Dousa.
Juice and jeans
He points out that the EU has not yet introduced or raised a single tariff. But if the EU is forced to respond with tariffs on American goods and products - well, then it should be on exchangeable ones, emphasizes Benjamin Dousa, exemplifying with juice and jeans.
However, next week things may come to a head.
Trump has said that April 2 is what he calls "Liberation day", but which I would rather call "Inflation day", where additional tariffs against the EU may be introduced.
