"We will do everything we can to work for an agreement with the USA to prevent a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global actors," says Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
She emphasizes that the USA's announced 20-percent import tariffs on all goods from the EU are "wrong".
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney promises to "fight" against President Donald Trump's tariffs, which he believes will lead to a "fundamental change" in world trade, Carney tells reporters in Ottawa.
"Trade War against Europe"
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen also flags that Trump's message will have far-reaching effects.
"To me, it's incomprehensible that the USA wants to start a trade war against Europe. No one wins, everyone loses. Instead of building walls, we should tear down barriers," he writes in a post on X.
Jens Stoltenberg, Norway's Finance Minister, is on the same track.
"The American tariff increases are bad news for the world economy and for an open country like Norway," he says in a comment to NTB.
"Keep Calm"
The United Kingdom, which faces 10-percent import tariffs to the USA, hopes to reach an agreement with the USA to "mitigate" the effects of the tariffs.
"Our approach is to keep calm and ambitious to get an agreement, which we hope will mitigate the effects of what has been announced," says Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds in a statement.
Ireland wants the EU to respond "proportionally" to the tariffs. The country's Prime Minister Micheal Martin says in a statement that the government will "reflect" together with the rest of the EU on the way forward and notes that the measures taken should aim to "defend our companies', workers', and citizens' interests".
"Race to the Bottom"
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls Trump's 10-percent tariff against the country "completely unjustified". He further says that Australia does not plan to respond in kind, as it wants to avoid a "race to the bottom".
China demands that the USA "immediately" revoke the tariff decision. The country's Ministry of Commerce says in a statement that Beijing is ready to "firmly take countermeasures to protect our rights and interests".
The European Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen says that the EU wants to negotiate but is also ready to respond.
We are now preparing for further countermeasures to protect our interests and our companies if the negotiations fail, she says on Thursday morning.
