The island's government is racing to outline a response plan to Trump's tariff war.

QueralbsThe trade war that US President Donald Trump has declared in Europe with 20% tariffs will have consequences in Catalonia. To protect the more than 3,100 Catalan companies that regularly export to North America, the Socialist government will take advantage of the working meeting being held this Friday and Saturday in Núria to finalize a protection plan for the affected sectors in a race against time. The president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, announced this in an appearance from the Núria Valley, in Queralbs. However, he did not provide any details or figures regarding the plan. There are already draft measures involving several ministries, but the government is giving itself a deadline of this weekend. Next Monday, Illa will summon economic and social stakeholders to explain the government's plans to minimize the impact of the trade war on the Catalan economy. The government also plans to present this to the parliamentary groups.

At this point, it is unknown whether or not the Catalan government's plan will include direct aid to the hardest-hit sectors, such as the automotive, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. Isla does not rule it out, but has also clarified that it is the European Union that should lead this response and that Catalonia must stand by it and the Spanish government. Just this Thursday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a plan to mobilize 14.1 billion to minimize the effectsUse of US tariffs on the Spanish economy. Isla admitted that the situation is "complex" and called for the defense of the European space and its values. "The decision to open a trade war is unjustified," she complained.

Trump's tariff wall catches the Generalitat in a situation of power vacuum in the United States, without a delegate heading the government office in the region following the early dismissal of the previous one. However, even before Trump's announcement of massive tariffs, the Catalan government's competitiveness agency, Acció, had already activated a tailored advisory service for companies doing business in the country, through contingency plans.

How do I pay?

Whatever the response, the Catalan government will face the same problem as the Spanish one (albeit on a different economic scale): it has no budget and, therefore, will have to use it to mobilize new resources to support the affected economic fabric. As Isla explained, part of these resources will come from "reprogramming" the items in the current accounts (and, therefore, from taking money elsewhere). However, the Catalan executive has not renounced paying for some of the measures through the second credit supplement decree being negotiated with the ERC and Comuns parties to inject another €1.7 billion into the 2023 accounts, extended for the second time. Both groups maintain, for the moment, that the negotiations are still in their infancy.

The trade war response plan will be the focus of the two days of work the government is holding this Friday and Saturday in the Vall de Núria. This is the second edition of the gatherings held by the socialist executive. already celebrated in Poblet at the beginning of the mandate, to put the government's priorities for the start of the term in black and white. Eight months later, there is still no significant news regarding either the one-off funding or the transfer of commuter rail services. Illa has assured that the government is still working on this.