LONDON, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde has called on European leaders to engage with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump over potential tariffs and increase purchases of U.S.-made goods, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Thursday.
In her first interview since Trump won his second presidential term, Lagarde told the FT that the European Union (EU) needed "not to retaliate, but to negotiate" with the president-elect.
Lagarde warned that a trade war "at large" was "in nobody's interest" and would lead to "a global reduction" of gross domestic product (GDP).
Talking about Trump's rhetoric of "Make America Great Again," she expressed her doubts about how that goal could be achieved if worldwide demand declines.
Lagarde suggested that Europe respond to a second Trump term with a "checkbook strategy," proposing to increase purchases of specific U.S. goods.
"This is a better scenario than a pure retaliation strategy, which can lead to a tit-for-tat process where no one is really a winner," the ECB president said to the FT. ■
