Europe is panicking at the thought of being slapped with similar U.S. tariffs to the ones imposed on China, Canada, and Mexico. Following the threats Trump made recently, EU leaders are desperately trying to come up with a good response, either by projecting strength or reason.
Some were calling for immediate retaliation with the same measures if Trump were to start a trade war during Monday’s informal defense summit in Paris, while others would prefer negotiating in order to avoid being caught in a spiral of conflict.
What’s missing is a united approach, as usual, as every major country is trying to take the initiative from the rest, and especially the European Commission.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was the first to comment on Sunday after Trump said he would “absolutely” impose tariffs on Europe because its behavior on trade had been “an atrocity.” But she chose her words carefully when saying that the EU would “respond firmly” if Trump “unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods.”
Others, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz were more blunt and suggested that there was wide agreement among EU leaders that direct confrontation with reciprocal measures was the correct approach.
Scholz emphasized that the EU has the economic capacity to inflict the same amount of damage on the U.S. as Trump would, while Macron argued that Europe must flex its muscles early on to show Washington its “true power.”
“If we are attacked in terms of trade, Europe—as a true power—will have to stand up for itself,” the French President said.
However, Polish PM Donald Tusk, who currently holds the EU Council’s rotating presidency, slammed the idea of engaging in a trade war as “unnecessary and stupid.”
“It would be cruel if during the time of a direct Russian threat and Chinese expansion, and all these dangerous things, we would find a reason to be in conflict among allies,” Tusk said.
The EU’s foreign affairs chief, former Estonian PM Kaja Kallas was also on the side of de-escalation. Kallas argued that if Washington and Brussels would start a trade war, “the one laughing on the side would be China.”
“There are no winners in trade wars,” she added.
