Trump May Go Too Far in Alienating Europe
The next EU election cycle could be far more anti-American than the last.
They didn’t achieve much more.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Donald Trump has been determined to confront the U.S.’s European allies on every issue of importance, from trade to climate change to the multilateral deal with Iran. As politicians and publics on this side of the Atlantic become increasingly wary, it’s worth asking whether he really wants allies at all.
After the unsuccessful visits of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to Washington last week, Trump has given Europe another month’s respite from punitive steel and aluminum tariffs. He expects European Union countries to agree to export quotas instead. Why the Trump administration would want that is anybody’s guess: Tariffs would at least yield some revenue for the U.S., while quotas would only result in abnormal profits for the exporters since prices would inevitably go up. But tariffs or quotas, it’s clear European leaders can’t get any traction with Trump.