Eastern Europe will suffer as a result of the lopsided trade deal European Commission President Ursla von der Leyen signed with President Donald Trump which put a 15% tariff on all imports from the European Union.
While the Hungarian government has not released information on the effect the tariffs will have, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is preparing for the worst. Hungarian exports to the U.S. are worth $11 billion. The country is heavily involved as a supplier to the European automobile industry, which now faces an increase in U.S. tariffs from 2.5% to 15%. Already, prior to the announcement of tariffs, Hungary had reduced its expected growth rate for this year to 1% down from 2.5%.
“We have to draw up two action plans, one is an action plan to protect jobs, to make sure that foreign companies working in Hungary do not react by laying off people. Or, if they do, we need to offer those people jobs immediately,” Orban said. He added that the second plan has to make sure no manufacturing plants are shut down as a result of the tariffs.
In Romania, Concordia, the country’s largest employers’ association, estimated the tariffs could reduce the country’s growth rate by 0.2%
In the Czech Republic, the Finance Ministry said tariffs would cut growth by 0.2 percentage points for the remainder of the year.
In Slovakia, Société Générale economists have estimated the tariff impact at 0.87% of gross domestic product, given the fact that Slovakia’s exports to theU.S. as a percentage of national output is the highest in the EU.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country could lose around 8 billion zlotys ($2.14 billion) due to the new U.S. import tariffs.
The country with the most exports to theU.S. is Ireland, which exports a total of €72 billion to the U.S., 32% of its total exports, mostly pharmaceutical manufactured by American companies taking advantage of the low tax rates in Ireland.
