Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski on January 21, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.
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The United States remain the most important ally in Europe, the Minister of Finance of Poland said on Tuesday CNBC, saying that the key importance for the block was finding areas in which it can increase trade and cooperation.
He emphasized the defense and purchase of larger American military equipment as an area in which further involvement may occur.
“The United States is the strongest and most important ally of the European Union and Poland, which is why we buy a lot of military equipment in the USA here and why we value the presence of American soldiers in Poland so much,” said Andrzej Domański in CNBC on the margins of the International Monetary Fund and meetings of the World Bank in Washington.
“I think it is clear to everyone that it's time to strengthen our eastern Flanka NATO (in Europe), and the US presence is absolutely crucial,” he added.
Defense is one domain in which the EU can meet the double needs of trading in balancing from the US and increasing expenses in accordance with the current NATO requirements.
Both matters are many years of mistakes for President Trump when it comes to European allies with whom relations were tense after his early announcement of 20% trade tariffs in the case of EU imports.
Since then, the global crash of the market has prompted the US President to announce a 90-day pause on the subject of “mutual” tariffs over 10%-with the exception of these imposed Chinom-Even the moratorium ends at the beginning of July.
Meanwhile, many countries, along with the entire EU, try to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with the Trump administration.
“We must have a contract that is crystal clear,” said CNBC Carolin Roth in Washington Domański. “The US and the European Union are very strong trading partners, and the USA is our most important ally and this is a fact, and therefore we must find a good solution.”
He added: “We must use these 80 days of the remaining very, very wise and therefore (European) Commission is working on finding a good solution.”
Domański said that there are many areas where trade can increase, indicating the EU potentially buying more US military equipment and American natural gas.
Poland avoided many Trump's anger on European defense expenses, taking into account that Warsaw wants to invest nearly 5% of its GDP in security this year and called allies many times to increase their own contribution in the arena.
Born estimates Suggest that Poland has spent 4.12% of its GDP on defense in 2024, while the United States issued 3.38% of their economic production during this period.
“We ask our European friends to do the same to increase their defense expenses,” said Domański CNBC. “It is not easy, we know that budgets are tight, and some countries face fiscal challenges, but some actions are really needed.”