António Costa spoke at the opening session of a conference entitled, “United States and Portugal a partnership for prosperity” at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, which was closed on Monday afternoon by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The prime minister, who will visit the United States between 10 and 16 June, spoke about Brexit at the end of his speech, noting that after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, Portugal will become the European country that is geograph-ically closest to the US.
“We have all the conditions to play this role of closer relations in the transatlantic world - and this cooperation will surely be boosted by Brexit,” said the head of the Portuguese government.
Speaking to an audience mostly made up of diplomats and business people, Costa later said that “many US companies, like many outside the European Union, wish to remain in the UK,” even after Brexit.
“But not wanting to leave the European Union, these companies need to find a second home that will allow them to remain in the European Union. To all these [entrepreneurs] I want to say that Portugal offers two in one: The possibility of continuing in the UK; and the possibility of not leaving the European Union by investing in Portugal,” he said.
In his speech, the prime minister made an indirect reference to the recent decision of the US administration to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
“At a time when everything is not going well for each other, it is also important that the long friendship [between Portugal and the United States] be animated by good news of cooperation and closer relations,” he said.