
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, called the new tariffs imposed by the United States on the Union unfounded, due to shortcomings in forced labor controls.
Kallas said that labor conditions and laws in the European Union are much better than those in the United States.
"I'm sorry, but you can't use this argument for the European Union. If you compare our labor laws with those of the United States, we have paid holidays, we have very good working conditions for our employees, so it's not really based. We had an agreement with America and we respected it," Kallas said.
Kallas said the European Union did not expect the imposition of new tariffs by President Trump's administration and will seek clarification from Washington on these measures.
The bloc's chief diplomat also spoke about the European Union's latest package of sanctions against Russia, which she said is intended to exert more pressure on Moscow and limit its ability to finance the war in Ukraine.
"This package is to prevent them from financing this war. We also see that because of the sanctions, Russia cannot raise capital abroad. We are considering what more we can do to put pressure on Russia to sit at the negotiating table and negotiate with Ukraine," Kallas said.
The European Union adopted the 21st package of sanctions against Russia and imposed restrictions on the country's banking sector and cryptocurrency networks.