Greek ECB Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras warned that the US reciprocal tariffs were “worse than expected” and a source of “unprecedented” global policy uncertainty.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he characterized the tariffs as “definitely a deflationary measure” for the Eurozone.
“A notable adverse impact on growth could lead to activity being much weaker than expected, dragging inflation below our targets,” he added.
While conceding it’s difficult to quantify the exact fallout, Stournaras projected a potential hit of between 0.5 to 1 percentage points to Eurozone growth.
He refrained from speculating on whether the threat justifies a 50bps rate cut but underscored the seriousness of the downside risks.
