Yes, it\u2019s been one hell of a year for the world\u2019s biggest trading relationship. The economic consequences will take years to materialize \u2014 but the short-term impact is manifest: in forcing Europe to face up to its overreliance on the U.S. security umbrella and find new friends to trade with.<\/p>\n
With a warning that the following might trigger flashbacks, we take you through POLITICO\u2019s coverage of Europe\u2019s traumatic trade year at the hands of Trump:<\/p>\n
January<\/strong><\/p>\n As Trump returns to the White House, we explore how America\u2019s trading partners are wargaming his trade threats. The big idea? Escalate to de-escalate<\/a>. It\u2019s a playbook we later saw unfold in Trump\u2019s clashes with China and Canada. But, in the event, the EU never dares to escalate.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s return does galvanize the EU into advancing trade deals with other partners<\/a> \u2014 like Mexico or Latin America\u2019s Mercosur bloc. \u201cEurope will keep seeking cooperation \u2014 not only with our long-time like-minded friends, but with any country we share interests with,\u201d von der Leyen tells the World Economic Forum the day after Trump is sworn in.<\/p>\n February<\/p>\n As Trump announces that he will reimpose steel and aluminum tariffs, von der Leyen vows a \u201cfirm and proportionate response.\u201d The bloc has strengthened its trade defenses<\/a> since his first term, and needs to be ready to activate them, advises former top Commission trade official Jean-Luc Demarty: \u201cEspecially with a personality like Trump, if we don\u2019t react, he\u2019ll trample us.\u201d<\/p>\n That begs the question as to whether trade wars are as easy to win<\/a>, as Trump likes to say. The short answer is, of course, \u201cno.\u201d Trade Commissioner Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, meanwhile, packs a suitcase full of concessions<\/a> on his first mission to Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yes, it\u2019s been one hell of a year for the world\u2019s biggest trading relationship. The economic consequences will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[1212,1213,1393,521,3427,60391,943,1395,1442,6215,26259,21882,3677,32,1396,2000,299,5187,1214,2826,678,2122,7495,1216,22708,2132,12337,45,2443,712,811,1199,1218,2943,479,7162,1201,49,1220,1116],"class_list":{"0":"post-651863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-aluminum","9":"tag-americas","10":"tag-anti-coercion-instrument","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-banking","13":"tag-camille-gijs","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-china","16":"tag-competition","17":"tag-cooperation","18":"tag-cptpp","19":"tag-davos","20":"tag-digital","21":"tag-donald-trump","22":"tag-dumping-duties","23":"tag-eu","24":"tag-europe","25":"tag-european","26":"tag-exports","27":"tag-golf","28":"tag-ireland","29":"tag-japan","30":"tag-jean-luc-demarty","31":"tag-maros-sefcovic","32":"tag-mercosur","33":"tag-mexico","34":"tag-missions","35":"tag-playbook","36":"tag-regulation","37":"tag-scotland","38":"tag-security","39":"tag-services","40":"tag-steel","41":"tag-taiwan","42":"tag-tariffs","43":"tag-teresa-ribera","44":"tag-trade","45":"tag-united-states","46":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","47":"tag-weapons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115772872731641670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651863","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=651863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}