"What we certainly do not support is a trade war and a tariff war with the United States. We do not want high tariffs, we want low tariffs," said Szijjarto according to statement by his ministry.

"We expect the European Commission to negotiate, but not about imposing new tariffs, not about even higher tariffs, but about how to reduce tariffs for trade between the United States and the European Union," he added.

Szijjarto said Hungary does not support EU counter-tariffs because they would make American imported products more expensive, meaning they would cause significant price increases for people on the continent.

If the list compiled by the EC were accepted, it would immediately mean a price increase of HUF 18bn in Hungary, he added.

Szijjarto said that it has become clear that several member states share a similar position to Hungary.

"It would have been possible to conduct substantive negotiations with the American administration for months, to put serious proposals on the table of the American administration months ago, and to reach an agreement based on them," said Szijjarto.

The minister said the EU should have reduced import tariffs on the US auto industry from the current 10pc to 2.5pc, so everything that happened could have been avoided.

Szijjarto also mentioned the future of European-Chinese trade cooperation, reiterating that the current leadership of the EC is unfit for its task, as evidenced by the tariffs imposed on the Chinese electric car industry.

He called these a good example of how "an ideologically driven economic policy measure" can cause enormous damage.

Meanwhile Task of foreign policy to ensure peace and represent economic interests - state sec

The Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK) on Monday held a foreign trade conference titled "Foreign Trade in Focus" as its annual starting event for the sector.

Levente Magyar, a state secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said at the event that in the current uncertain global political situation, the task of Hungarian foreign policy is to ensure the country's peace and the representation of Hungarian economic interests.

Magyar said Hungary’s decisions will continue to be driven by standing up for Hungarian interests and not by adapting to expectations, and noted that extreme volatility has set in, and it is very difficult to plan ahead in the uncertain geopolitical situation.

The state secretary said that as part of the government’s programme launched in 2019 to support Hungarian companies making investments abroad some 254 firms have received support to make HUF 254bn of investments in 17 countries.

Depending on the budget situation, a new call for applications may be announced at the end of the year, he added.

Magyar noted that the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) helped EUR 10bn of investments last year and 24 companies received support.

Fine-tuning of the investment incentive system is continuing and in the future, greater emphasis will be placed on supporting research, development, innovation, knowledge-intensive and technological transition projects, he said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto addressed the conference in a video message and said Hungary is interested in connectivity and the free operation of world trade, not in the system of economic blocs that is currently emerging.

Szijjarto said Hungary’s economic neutrality strategy ensures that it maintains its economic and political relations in all directions and the focus of the Hungarian foreign trade strategy is to help as many Hungarian companies as possible access foreign markets and to ensure that the Hungarian share in the Hungarian export performance grows.

MKIK head Elek Nagy said there is no other path for the Hungarian economy than technologically intensive development, as the era of labour-intensive growth has ended. He quoted a survey showing that half of Hungarian exporting companies plan to open up to new markets, with 30pc indicating that they would open towards one or two new regions, and 20pc would open up to 3-5 new regions.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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