Czech President slams US global tariffs as unfortunate.

President of the Czech Republic Petr Peval has described the US imposition of a global tariff as unfortunate and potentially destructive of economies.
“Tariff wars are damaging everyone. So, in my view, it is unfortunate to impose such a broad wave of tariffs without negotiating”.

Addressing the media at the Presidency on Tuesday after a bilateral meeting with President John Mahama, President Peval, who is on a three-day state visit, called for a negotiation approach to minimise the impact of tariffs on the economies of affected countries.

“Countries, especially countries that are allies, should first negotiate, and only when they cannot come to an agreement can they exert some pressure. We haven’t explored the opportunity to negotiate. Regarding African and Asian countries, particularly those among the poorest globally, such as Lesotho, Cambodia, and Laos, they are burdened with the highest tariffs in history. This can easily devastate their economies. I think that we have to collectively address the United States to rethink this approach and negotiate because I believe that only by negotiating can we achieve a result that will benefit the United States, balancing their trade with the world, but also not destroying countries.”

President Mahama noted that the tariff war was unfortunate because of the time-tested global acceptance of a rule-based trading system, which has led to significant growth in global GDP.

“I join His Excellency in stating that we have all embraced a rules-based trading system, which has benefited the world greatly as it has fostered significant GDP growth globally. It is unfortunate that, in disregard of this rules-based system, one country has decided unilaterally to increase tariffs on all nations.”