Tariff Deal: Trump Tipping Us Into a World of Survival

A painful sense of capitulation. After the agreement reached between Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump, which set tariffs on most European products at 15% , with a few exemptions, the EU now seems to have fully entered the world according to Trump. The rules of the global order have changed so much that the memory of what the world was like before Trump is becoming vague. But still... In this "before" world, Europe claimed to matter in the world, presenting a united front and defending the values of dialogue and diplomacy. We feared Putin and relied on the United States. We discreetly negotiated on Mercosur because we were worried about competition for our farmers and environmental standards. We displayed ambitious carbon emission reduction targets. That was before. Today, Donald Trump has plunged us into a world of survival, where only the law of the loudest prevails.

In a chorus of dissonant reactions , can we still hear the voice of France? The reactions, in any case, from Paris raise questions. When Prime Minister François Bayrou laments "a dark day," his Minister of the Economy, in an exclusive interview with Libération , certainly describes the deal as "lose-lose" but immediately tempers it by asking what more Europe "could have done." Perhaps it could have shown a little more muscle in the face of an interlocutor who only understands force? Ursula von der Leyen assured that it was the "best possible agreement." Europe is playing the long game and betting on alternative agreements, with Mercosur, ASEAN, or India. The fact remains that seeing the head of the EU forced to go to Canossa, especially in the land of Brexit, gives the impression of being faced with an agreement of massive disappointment.