{"id":226311,"date":"2025-06-30T09:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226311\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:47:13","slug":"tariff-bullying-is-working-too-well-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226311\/","title":{"rendered":"Tariff bullying is working too well in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a>‘s April tariff barrage felt like the height of hubris. It infuriated allies, damaged his popularity at home and triggered financial-market chaos so acute the whole thing was paused within days \u2014 the latest sign of America\u2019s Icarus-like tendency to try to remake the world every few decades. Yet three months on, as the deadline for a compromise looms, Europe\u2019s own syndrome risks emerging: a tendency to look more like a collection of Asterix villages than a cohesive whole.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now looking increasingly likely that the European Union<\/a>\u2019s 27 members, whose common trade policy is led by Brussels, will be faced with what is called an \u201casymmetric\u201d deal. There will be no removal of all tariffs imposed or threatened by Trump, including a baseline levy expected at 10%. If that\u2019s the case, the UK\u2019s bare-bones deal \u2014 which failed to cancel its own 10% tariff or a 25% levy on steel and aluminum \u2014 has become a kind of precedent: a few carve-outs, a gushing tweet and hope that Trump moves on. Canada has also become a precedent, withdrawing its digital services tax on tech companies after the US made it a red line for talks. Financial markets see cause for cheer as a de-escalation path takes form.<\/p>\n

Also Read: <\/strong>Trump keeps investors on edge while his deals may fall short of sweeping trade reforms<\/a>
The question then becomes whether \u2014 or how \u2014 the EU retaliates. Aside from responding to the economic hit against an export flow worth $605.9 billion last year, from Airbus<\/a> SE airliners to Volkswagen AG cars, not doing so might be a signal that bullying works. Last week, NATO allies agreed to more than double defense spending targets to 5% of gross domestic product (of which 1.5% would go on related infrastructure), addressing a Trumpian bugbear while also ensuring more orders for US arms. G-7 allies also appear to have offered concessions on global taxation of US companies in return for the dropping of a \u201crevenge tax.\u201d The EU has been offering other carrots for months, from buying more US imports to cooperating on China. Hence why Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned it might soon be time to \u201crespond in kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thing about retaliation is that it requires unity, especially if the idea is to go beyond goods and into services provided by dominant US firms like Alphabet Inc. or Amazon.com Inc. And even if the EU Commission is taking a strident tone, the combination of geopolitical risk and weak economic growth doesn\u2019t generally inspire unity. Few heads seem willing to rise above the parapet. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to get on with delivering on lofty promises of national renewal, not get bogged down in a tariff war. Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni might want to preserve her relationship with Trump, which was on display at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit. Countries to the east, closer to the war in Ukraine, are more focused on access to American hard power, as displayed in spectacular fashion in Iran.<\/p>\n

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And while French President Emmanuel Macron will want to play the role of trade warrior, even his administration might see the value of a focus on securing protections for its own industries like aerospace. Spain, the most recent target of a verbal lashing from Trump, seems somewhat isolated and hasn\u2019t rallied much of a wave of solidarity. During the Brexit<\/a> saga, the UK\u2019s oft-repeated mantra was \u201cno deal is better than a bad deal.\u201d Nobody is saying that in Brussels these days, even as officials try to uphold red lines on defending existing regulation. Such is life when faced with the closest thing the world has to a superpower \u2014 and when dependency on said superpower runs deep, from security to technology.To be clear, the EU is hardly powerless in trade; and after deepening cooperation with Japan and Canada, there will be added impetus to cut new deals elsewhere. As for the US, a last dash for the finish line may produce a better outcome than the one currently on the table.But either way, the lesson for the EU is it must address the dependencies that help the bullying work. That will require collective action: on a defense industrial base that reduces fragmentation and increases innovation, on a capital market that\u2019s failing to create and scale up new companies and on the technological gaps that make talk of sovereignty unconvincing. Icarus syndromes are quickly shaken off, but Asterix syndromes last forever.(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump‘s April tariff barrage felt like the height of hubris. It infuriated allies, damaged his popularity at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2103,802,32,2000,89219,299,89221,5187,1699,89222,13128,554,89220],"class_list":{"0":"post-226311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-airbus","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-eu-trade-policy","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-europe-trade-deal","15":"tag-european","16":"tag-european-union","17":"tag-free-trade-agreements","18":"tag-trade-deal","19":"tag-trump-tariffs","20":"tag-us-trade-deal"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114771686108334937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}