Futures
Access hundreds of perpetual contracts
TradFi
Gold
One platform for global traditional assets
Options
Hot
Trade European-style vanilla options
Unified Account
Maximize your capital efficiency
Demo Trading
Introduction to Futures Trading
Learn the basics of futures trading
Futures Events
Join events to earn rewards
Demo Trading
Use virtual funds to practice risk-free trading
Launch
CandyDrop
Collect candies to earn airdrops
Launchpool
Quick staking, earn potential new tokens
HODLer Airdrop
Hold GT and get massive airdrops for free
Pre-IPOs
Unlock full access to global stock IPOs
Alpha Points
Trade on-chain assets and earn airdrops
Futures Points
Earn futures points and claim airdrop rewards
Promotions
AI
Gate AI
Your all-in-one conversational AI partner
Gate AI Bot
Use Gate AI directly in your social App
GateClaw
Gate Blue Lobster, ready to go
Gate for AI Agent
AI infrastructure, Gate MCP, Skills, and CLI
Gate Skills Hub
10K+ Skills
From office tasks to trading, the all-in-one skill hub makes AI even more useful.
GateRouter
Smartly choose from 40+ AI models, with 0% extra fees
Euro zone inflation to take hit from tariffs but rate cuts could offset, ECB economists find
Euro zone inflation to take hit from tariffs but rate cuts could offset, ECB economists find
FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo · Reuters
Reuters
February 10, 2026 2 min read
FRANKFURT, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. tariffs are weighing on euro zone growth and inflation but the most affected sectors are also sensitive to interest rates, so cutting borrowing costs could offset the downward price pressures, a European Central Bank blog post said on Tuesday.
The U.S. imposed tariffs on most trading partners last year and ECB officials have been studying their likely impact, often coming to opposing conclusions since trade barriers affect the economy on multiple levels.
But a study done by ECB economists concluded that the drop in demand due to tariffs outweighs any inflation-boosting supply effects, creating a drag for prices.
“At its lowest point, about one and a half years after a tariff-related trade surprise that cuts euro zone exports to the United States by 1%, the consumer price level is around 0.1% lower,” the blog post, which does not necessarily represent the ECB’s views, argued.
Trade data has been volatile over the past year as firms frontloaded purchases to avoid tariffs, which stand at 15% as a baseline for EU goods entering the U.S., then ran down stocks.
However, in the latest three months for which data is available, euro zone exports to the U.S. are down about 6.5% from the same period a year earlier.
These findings are significant since euro zone inflation fell to 1.7% in January, below the ECB’s 2% target, and some policymakers fear that inflation could fall further.
The good news for the ECB is that sectors hit hardest by the tariff shock also respond most strongly to interest rate changes, the blog argued. These sectors include machinery, autos and chemicals.
Output may drop sharply because of tariffs but expands strongly in response to lower borrowing costs, they argued.
“We find that this pattern holds for about 60% of the sectors we study – representing roughly 50% of total average euro zone industrial output and of total goods exports to the United States,” the economists said.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Terms and Privacy Policy
Privacy Dashboard
More Info