Trump's tariffs lower Andalucía's economic growth forecast

Héctor Barbotta

Sevilla

Monday, 17 March 2025, 18:38

The tariffs that US presdient Donald Trump has imposed on European products since his inauguration into office are expected to hinder Andalucía economic growth. During the closing ceremony of the Confederation of Andalusian Entrepreneurs (CEA), Junta's president Juanma Moreno addressed the economic climate, acknowledging that the tariffs will not be innocuous, especially in Andalucía, given that it is one of the two Spanish regions with the highest level of exports to the US.

"When the pandemic goes, inflation comes, prices go up, the war in Ukraine starts and now that we are starting to breathe, we get an administration, in this case, clearly protectionist, which has declared a trade war of incalculable and unforeseeable impact," said Moreno, calling for a recalculation of the economic forecasts.

"It breaks my heart because I know oil and wine companies that have served US markets for decades," said the president. To curb any downward trends, Moreno proposed turning to Asia in the search of alternative markets for exports.

"We also have to start turning towards countries, especially in Asia, where we have markets that greatly appreciate Andalusian products," said Moreno. He mostly referred to Japan, a country marked by a higher income, and China, which has already started to establish "good institutional relations" with Andalucía.

Andalucía was an unmistakable leader in the agricultural and the aeronautics sectors in 2024, when it exceeded 40 billion euros in exports.

Despite the bleak prognosis, Moreno expressed his confidence in the EU's capacity to support its member states. The Junta's president called for "intelligent diplomacy and common sense", urging the Spanish government to seek common ground and always defend Europe's interests.

The president of the CEOE (confederation of business organisations), Antonio Garamendi, said that Trump's decision to impose a 200% tariff on all wines and alcoholic products from the EU would be a "huge mistake". "He is going to miss out, because Spanish wine is marvellous," he said. According to Garamendi, the economic tariff policy proposed by the US president is "erratic" and "not good for anyone", not even for the US itself, as can be judged by the fall of the American stock markets.

CEA president Javier González de Lara also spoke of the changes the world is going through. "The world order has exploded into a thousand pieces and we will have to build a new model," he said, adding that "the process of globalisation that brought about economic and social integration between countries has now ended up discrediting the international institutions created to facilitate this collaboration".