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How the EU succumbed to Trump’s tariff steamroller

Relief at avoiding trade war is tinged with regret at not taking firmer stand from the start

Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen © FT montage/Getty Images

Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen © FT montage/Getty Images

The path to the EU’s capitulation to Donald Trump’s trade blitz was set on April 10.

The sweeping “liberation day” tariffs that the US president had inflicted on most of the world earlier that month had sent financial markets into a tailspin as investors dumped US assets over recession fears. With the sell-off intensifying, Trump blinked and on April 9 dropped the tariffs to 10 per cent.

But Brussels blinked too. On April 10 it suspended its retaliatory tariffs and accepted the US offer of talks with a knife at its throat: 10 per cent tariffs on most of its trade, along with higher levies on steel, aluminium and vehicles.

Rather than join Canada and China with instant retaliation and inflict pain on US consumers and businesses, the EU — hamstrung by divergent views among its member states — chose to take the pain in the hope of securing a better deal.

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Author: Andy Bounds in Brussels, Henry Foy in Turnberry and Ben Hall in London

Source: Financial Times

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