Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Vincent McAviney: Europe Correspondent on the plans for a European reassurance force in Ukraine

Transcript

Vincent McAviney: Europe Correspondent on the plans for a European reassurance force in Ukraine · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's got to Europe and it's good morning to Vincent Megavinny.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: So Donald Trump puts a twenty five percent tariff on
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: all important cars and car pats. The European cars are
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: very popular in America. So how have they reacted?
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hugely popular.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: You see a lot of BMW's, a lot of Audi's,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of Mercedes Benz in America when you are there.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: And it's been a pretty big blow, particularly for Germany,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: which has had a struggle over the last few years
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: with its economy because of being cut off from cheap
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Russian gas. And they have said decisively that they will
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: not give in and that Europe must respond firmly to
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: this at tax not just on imported cars but also
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: car parts, you know, and some of those manufacturers do
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: have plants in the US, but of course some of
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: those parts are just manufactured in one site here in
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Europe and then sent all the way around the world.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: So they're trying to build consensus across Europe, but also
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: with Canada and Japan as well. All of the car
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: companies from those nations have seen their stock fall General
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Motors much as seven percent today because they have sort
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: of a lot of production here in Europe as well,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and it's all tied in this global chain. So there
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: are perhaps attempts for Canada, Europe and Japan to sort
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: of act together in sort of retaliatory tariffs, but Donald
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Trump has worn it, particularly Canada, of doing anything like that.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: So we'll see how this.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Goes, absolutely, and we'll see how the American public react,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: because they do like the European cars on the Japanese cars,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and their freedom of choice has kind of been taken
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: away from them exactly.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: And Donald Trump doesn't seem together as well. He's sort
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: of his defenses. You know, Europeans don't buy our cars. Well,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: most American cars aren't fit for European roads because they're
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: so much smaller, and also we don't have the sort
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: of subsidized gas prices that they do. Their fuel is
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: much more. You have to have better fuel efficiency here
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: in Europe to make it cost effective.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, So European leaders have been meeting in Paris, and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Zelenski is here as well. What can you tell me?
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. This is another meeting of European leaders
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: hosted by Emmanuel Macromar. Defense heads as well attending this meeting.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: They're saying that Putin is simply trying to play for time,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: that he's not engaging properly with the talks. But they
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: are starting to sort of draw up plans for a
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: mobilization of European forces not seen in a scale for decades,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: to be ready to go in as peacekeeping troops. Now,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Vladimir Putin has previously said that he wouldn't want any
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: NATO soldiers to be put into Ukraine. Now, of course,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: that doesn't leave really any European soldiers these days, because
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: his illegal war in Ukraine meant that even Finland and
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Sweden long holdouts had joined NATO in recent years. So
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: it is sort of more planning for the possibility of
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a ceasefire, but that ceasefire still seems a little bit
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: out of reach at the moment.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Vinca Meccavini, you have yourself a great weekend, and I
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: thank you for joining me for more.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: From early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Talks it had been from five am weekdays, or follow
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.