Spain’s Vox party leader Santiago Abascal has claimed Italy will be the only European Union country spared from US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs simply because he likes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“The one who is going to be spared from tariffs in Europe is going to be Giorgia Meloni,” he said on the sidelines of a Vox party meeting on March 16.
Abascal added that her advantage came as “she [Meloni] has not become the antagonist of Donald Trump”, he said.
He warned that embracing an anti-Trump stance would only worsen the EU’s position in any trade war with Washington.
“The best way to confront that threat is not to become anti-Trump champions, which is what both [Spanish Prime Minister Pedro] Sánchez and [People’s Party leader Alberto] Feijóo are doing,” he said, adding that strategy would prove a “monumental mistake.”
Sanchez has vowed an EU response to US tariffs that he said were “unfair” and a risk to the bloc’s economy.
Despite aligning with Trump on several conservative issues, Abascal said Vox also opposed US tariffs on EU goods.
“You won’t find a single statement from anyone from Vox supporting them. On the contrary, you’ll see statements from me in Spain and even in Washington, at the Conservative Convention saying that we don’t want those tariffs,” he said.
His criticism of Trump echoed other right-wing politicians across Europe pushing back against the US President’s economic policies.
Danish MEP Anders Vistisen, speaking to Brussels Signal on March 6 called for EU self-reliance in the face of US tariffs.
“Even though we share a lot of the same analysis as the MAGA [Make America Great Again] movement and Trump when it comes to migration and woke, I don’t think we necessarily have to become a mouthpiece of American politics in Europe,” he said.
Danish MEP Anders Vistisen has defended his blunt response to US President Donald Trump’s claims on Greenland, telling Brussels Signal Denmark had every right to be offended. https://t.co/q5lfkDUY04
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) March 6, 2025
