EU open to US energy, arm sales talks to stave off tariffs

By Marta Fiorin and Cecile Mantovani

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The European Union is open to discussing purchases of energy and arms from the United States to ward off tariffs that President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on the bloc, EU's top economy official said on Thursday.

Trump has vowed to address a long-running deficit in goods trade with the EU, either through tariffs of more oil and gas exports.

European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the EU would defend its rights and interests if tariffs were imposed and referred to the retaliatory duties the EU imposed on U.S. imports when EU steel and aluminium were hit by tariffs during Trump's first term.

First and foremost though, the EU wanted to engage with the new U.S. administration, Dombrovskis, who is in charge of the economy at the bloc's executive, told Reuters in an interview in Davos.

He said U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports had proven helpful when Russia turned off most gas supplies to Europe in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. is now the EU's largest LNG supplier.

"We're seeking alternative suppliers," he said. "So we had a good cooperation over the last couple of years, and from our side we are ready to see how to further that."

Europe has said another avenue could be military spending, given Europe's need to strengthen its defence capabilities to counter Russia, which would require strong cooperation within NATO.

"So certainly there is scope also to discuss how we further strengthen also our military cooperation and military-industrial cooperation," Dombrovskis said.

(Reporting by Marta Fiorin and Cecile Mantovani, writing by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)