‘Trade war can take years’

“The trigger has been pulled. After months of great hesitation, the EU decided on Tuesday to impose economic sanctions against Russia. It is the beginning of a protracted trade war with major financial implications”, writes De Volkskrant. The Dutch newspaper thinks “the EU had no other possibility”: the downing of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 on July 17 by a Russian missile was the “proverbial gamechanger”. The sanctions package is possibly just the beginning of a trade war that can take years. The arms embargo on China for exemple goes back to 1989. De Volkskrant adds that —

for the relatives of flight MH 17’s passengers, time might be standing still for the moment; things are different for companies who have to deal with the sanctions. For them, time is money.