ECB’s Centeno: European Retaliation Against US Tariffs Would Act as ‘Boomerang’

17 June 2025

ECB’s Centeno: European Retaliation Against US Tariffs Would Act as ‘Boomerang’
Mario Centeno, governor of Banco de Portugal, at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal on June 26, 2023. Photo by Sérgio Garcia/Your Image for ECB under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

By Marta Vilar – MILAN (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mário Centeno said on Tuesday that European retaliation against US tariffs would backfire.

In a panel discussion at the Young Factor International Conference in Milan, Centeno, who heads the Banco de Portugal, said that ‘tariffs will make the US economy contract or lead to an increase in US prices.’

‘If we retaliate it will be a boomerang for us too’, he added. ‘The same thing will happen to us.’

Strengthening Europe would make the euro powerful enough to dethrone the dollar, according to Centeno.

 

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