US Chaos Is an Opportunity Europe Should Seize
Continental revival depends on Germany’s ability to overcome another year of lost growth.
Currency movement.
Photographer: Liesa Johannssen/Bloomberg
There’s a spring in the step of European Union officialdom these days — at least compared to the funereal mood a few months ago — as Donald Trump’s tariff war and rule-of-law attacks push Europeans to huddle closer and investors to seek refuge in the euro. The question is just how far even the springiest step can go in achieving necessary change, with Germany facing a third straight year of stagnation and Mario Draghi’s warnings of slow agony still ringing in technocrats’ ears.
Trump’s frontal assault on the $1.5 trillion transatlantic relationship has certainly done a better job of proving the EU’s worth than 1,000 white papers could. His attacks on NATO and Ukraine are boosting solidarity among members, with even traditionally pro-US Denmark shedding its euroskepticism in the wake of pressure over Greenland. The odds of Norway and Iceland membership are also shifting. Even the UK is moving closer to Brussels as the special relationship wilts.