Lithuania wants EU-US tariff deal, urges against knee-jerk response - foreign minister

VILNIUS - Lithuania is interested in finding a solution to the tariffs imposed by the United States, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said on Monday, urging the European Union not to respond with knee-jerk countermeasures.

"Lithuania is interested in finding a solution. We say and we see that relations between the US and the EU are mutually beneficial on both sides of the Atlantic in terms of trade and investment, and we see that tariffs are harmful," Lithuania’s top diplomat said ahead of Tuesday's Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, which will focus on trade issues.

"We believe we should look for strong arguments to persuade the US to move toward agreements with us. These agreements should both cover mutual trade and reflect global trade relations," he said.

Last week's announcement of sweeping tariffs by US President Donald Trump sent global stock indices down, caused concern among allies, and raised the possibility that other countries, including the EU, might hit back with tariffs on American goods.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the bloc, which faces a 20 percent tariff, will act in "a calm, carefully phased, unified way".

Budrys said the newly announced tariffs would affect some 380 billion euros' worth of EU-US trade, but stressed that the bloc should not "jump headlong into counter-measures".

"The EU should not immediately apply mirror tariffs and wait for a US response. We should take a pause, calculate the impact, and sit down at the negotiating table," he said.

The foreign minister also noted that global trade relations are currently "distorted".

"They are distorted because of China's excessive influence and the Chinese government's unfair practices in international trade, and there's room for cooperation here," he said.