 "Christine Lagarde")
By William Horobin
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned that a look at Donald Trump’s first term as US president raises concerns about his potential return to power in 2025.
“If we should learn lessons from history, from the way he led the first four years of his mandate, it is clearly a threat,” Lagarde told France 2 TV in an interview Thursday. “It’s sufficient to look at the trade tariffs, the commitment to NATO, the fight against climate change. In just these three areas, in the past, US interests were not aligned with European interests.”
Polls show November elections in the US shaping up to be a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, who defeated him in a bitterly fought 2020 contest. Despite Trump’s legal woes and potential criminal convictions, the Republican ex-president has been leading Biden in surveys.
A second Trump term would likely include tougher border measures, mass deportations, potential end to support for Ukraine, given Trump’s isolationist doctrine, and an increase in import tariffs. During his first term Trump frequently questioned the US’s ongoing role in NATO.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a message left for comment on Lagarde’s remarks.
Lagarde, who has headed the ECB since November 2019, has been a critic of Trump before, but her latest remarks are the most vocal in her current role. Moreover, central bankers usually go to lengths to avoid commenting on politics.
Back in 2016, when she was chief of the International Monetary Fund and Trump was a presidential candidate, she highlighted the economic risks of tariffs, one of his key policies. Three years later, before leaving Washington for Frankfurt, she took another swipe at him, saying his trade war with China had dented global economic growth.
As ECB chief, Lagarde has been outspoken when it comes to matters related to Ukraine. In an Irish TV talk show in 2022, the former French finance minister described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a terrifying person” and said he “must be driven by evil forces.”
Asked if Europe would be alone on the frontline in Ukraine if Trump were re-elected, Lagarde said Thursday she struggles to “imagine that because in the US Congress there are a number of elected members who are deeply hostile to Russia’s horrific war against Ukraine and who will continue to finance and support Ukraine.”
“You mustn’t forget that even in a presidential system like the American one, the Congress has considerable strength,” she said.
