In a Trump Trade War Against Europe, China Wins

Donald Trump, in an October interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, was asked about the risk of undermining America’s geopolitical position vis-à-vis China if Washington ramped up trade protections against Europe.

After all, US allies in Europe and elsewhere were vital to American success in Cold War I. But Trump waved that off, returning to one of his favorite metrics: the trade gap. “Our allies have taken advantage of us more so than our enemies,” he said. Five months on, now-President Trump has threatened the European Union with a big tariff hike—potentially 17 percentage points or more if, as he hinted Thursday, the US aims to counter EU value-added taxes.