United States President Donald Trump ridiculed the glacial pace of policymaking in the European Union on Thursday, claiming he had once abandoned a business deal because it would have taken too long to get approval.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said he had once sought approval for a project in Ireland, but ditched it once he was told that it would take “five to six years … And I said, ‘You have to be kidding.’”
The EU is notorious for the slow pace of its decision-making, owing to its preponderance of red tape. At the higher level, agreements are often slowed by the need for consent from numerous — often bitterly opposed — stakeholders, including member countries, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Notable instances of procedural sluggishness include a landmark trade deal recently signed with the Latin American Mercosur bloc that was 20 years in the making. Meanwhile, Turkey applied to join the bloc in 1987 — and its application is still pending.
“I got a call from the head of a major airline,” Trump recalled. “He said, sir. Can you help us? Landing in Europe is brutal — they charge us fees on everything. I said, how does it compare to China? And he said, ‘It’s much worse.’”
Friends of his in the EU, he added, “want to be able to compete better, and you can’t compete when you can’t go through the approval process fast.”
Trump also used the opportunity to blast the EU’s approach to the U.S. “They don’t take our foreign products, and they don’t take our cars, yet they send cars to us by the millions,” he said.
The bloc treats the U.S. “very badly, very unfairly,” Trump said, pointing to the recent multibillion euro fines on Google over anticompetitive business practices and Apple over the violation of state aid rules.
Elena Giordano contributed reporting.
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