Europe can claim itself as a superpower against the background of tariffs: Cossacks ECB

Uncertainty around trading tariffs is difficult, but the period of uncertainty also gives Europe the opportunity to approve itself as an economic and geopolitical superpower, the Latvian bank governor said on Thursday.

“With all this uncertainty and vulnerability, it is also a time of opportunities for Europe,” said Maard Kazakks, who is also a member of the Council of the ruling European Central Bank.

“It is a time for Europe to realize all aspects of being economic superpowers and to become a truly full political and geopolitical superpower, and it requires all decisions that have not been fully fulfilled in the past,” he said. The head of the Central Bank cited the capital trade union, the financial union and the only market for the addition of additional integration that was needed.

“This requires political will, political gut to make these decisions, as well as strengthen the European economy and affirm its place in the world world,” said Karx Carolin Roth in CNBC in the scenes of the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington this week.

Asked what tariffs mean for the ECB, which implemented a decrease in interest rate with 25 bases At the April meeting, Kazakks said the decisions would be made “from the meeting to the meeting because of this very bad visibility.”

“Uncertainty is very difficult,” he said, adding that “this is definitely a very vulnerable situation for the world economy.”

“(Political) statements, political decisions and political environment and especially the tariff war are what creates this extremely increased uncertainty.”

Kazaks said financial markets should be monitored for any dramatic shifts in the mood.

“As long as it seems to be orderly … But if you look at the overflow into Europe, the financial markets work more beautiful, we have not seen how they spread, exploring and something like that,” he said.

“But in terms of macro -streets, this uncertainty is extremely increased in the sense that, given the possible results, many scenarios and their likelihood are very similar to the basic (tariff) scenario,” he said.

Despite the fact that the initial duties announced in early April by US President Donald Trump and EU retaliation, contraindications, were stopped for 90 days before JulyThere are problems with a broader effect on regional and global economic growth as soon as this period is over.

IMF forecast earlier this week that in the USA gross domestic product expand 1.8% in 2025declined by 0.9 percentage point from his January forecast. The fund also reduced its global growth outlook to 2.8% this year, which is 0.5 percentage from the previous estimate.

The Fund predicted a slight decrease in the eurozone, predicting that the eurozone GDP would reach 0.8% in 2025 before being modestly picking up to 1.2% in 2026.

Kazaks said the IMF forecasts are on the optimistic side, and that the risk of the world recession was “not trivial”.