Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged the European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday to lower interest rates in order to weaken the euro and boost exports.
A strengthening euro against a weakening US dollar is creating difficulties for Italian exporters, compounded by tariffs, Tajani said at a press conference in Rome alongside European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
He called on the ECB to consider measures similar to the US Federal Reserve, suggesting rate cuts and renewed debt purchasing to increase liquidity and lower the euro’s value.
Without such action, Tajani warned, the situation would worsen for exporters, with the disparity between the values of the euro and the dollar potentially posing a greater challenge than tariffs.
Italy, the third largest European exporter to the United States, risks losing sales amounting to €16.7 billion annually, particularly in the machinery, beverages, and automotive sectors, according to Italian employers’ association Confindustria.
While Tajani commended a recently negotiated 15% tariff agreement with the US as a positive step, he cautioned that a declining dollar could undermine its benefits on another front.
