<p>The European Union had a rude awakening when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. But the geopolitical shift escalated three years later when US President <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> clashed with his Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. The Oval Office episode in the presence of international media with Vice President J D Vance playing prompter-cheerleader pushed the US-EU ties to the brink.</p>.<p>The brazenly open support of tech billionaire and Trump advisor Elon Musk to Europe’s far-right had already ticked off the EU partners. The Trump acolyte addressing an election rally of the German far-right Alternative for Democracy only worsened the trust deficit on Team Trump. </p><p>Vance drove the last nail when he played wrecking ball at the Munich Security Conference in February, dragging the EU over hot coal by declaring he was more worried about Europe facing threats from “within” than from Russia or China. He went on to chastise Europe for retreating from “some of its most fundamental values shared with” the US.</p>.<p>With the Trump tariffs now loaded and locked for an April 2 launch, the EU is left with no other option but to deploy countermeasures in slapping increased tariffs on American goods from April 11. As Spiegel International screamed in a recent editorial: “The old world order has collapsed. Donald Trump’s America is no longer an ally, it is an adversary.”</p>.<p>All this led to French President Emmanuel Macron finally getting the approval of Germany to accept what he had been advocating for eight years – Europe’s strategic autonomy. Macron’s proposal to put Europe on its own feet was for long seen as his pipe dream. But Trump’s tariff hikes, even on its closest NATO ally, changed that. Moments after winning the recent German national elections, Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz declared that his priority would be to “achieve independence from the USA.”</p>.<p>Armed with a new will, the EU struck back at Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium by announcing a two-stage retaliatory €26 billion ($28.34 billion) tariff on American products. Imports that would get affected include iconic American motorcycles Harley Davidson, Levi’s jeans, and bourbons such as Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s. Trump countered the 50% tariff on American bourbons by threatening a 200% tariff on European liquor.</p>.<p>The flare-up from the White House has already affected sales of American products in the EU. But unlike Canada, they are still available in Europe. But Tesla sales plunged in Germany by almost 60% in January, compared to a year ago, following Musk’s support to AfD. “The countermeasures we take today are strong but proportionate. As the US is applying tariffs worth $28 billion, we are responding with countermeasures worth €26 billion,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained in a statement.</p>.<p><strong>A necessary regrouping</strong></p>.<p>The 27-nation bloc wants to send a clear message to the Trump administration that the EU is no pushover. With a population of over 450 million and a GDP of nearly $19 trillion, as against America’s $28 trillion, the EU is still in the big league. Repeated jibes at the EU by both Trump and his team are not being taken well in Europe which has begun to reinvent itself.</p>.<p>In a recent post on his Truth Social, Trump slammed the “Globalist” Wall Street Journal over its coverage of the stock market crash. “They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of “screwing” the United States of America,” Trump declared in a no-holds-barred attack on European values.</p>.<p>An immediate consequence of Trump’s tariff war and pro-Russian Ukraine policy is the EU ramping up its defence budget. By merely agreeing to enhance the defence spending by 1.5%, the EU has an outlay of €650 billion ($708 billion) for re-arming Europe in view of the changed geopolitical situation.</p>.<p>The German Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, on Tuesday removed a debt ceiling by passing a historic package of €500 billion ($544 billion) for investments in the military, infrastructure and climate in keeping with the changing geopolitical order.</p>.<p>While the EU still needs America for trade and military support, the idea is to reduce the crippling dependence on Washington. The Franco-German engine is sputtering to start a new course in European autonomy while still being part of NATO, as the region aims at a new order with Trump smashing the old one. EU leaders admit that the process will be arduous and expensive, but one that must be set in motion, now.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is a senior journalist based in Berlin)</em></p>
<p>The European Union had a rude awakening when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. But the geopolitical shift escalated three years later when US President <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> clashed with his Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. The Oval Office episode in the presence of international media with Vice President J D Vance playing prompter-cheerleader pushed the US-EU ties to the brink.</p>.<p>The brazenly open support of tech billionaire and Trump advisor Elon Musk to Europe’s far-right had already ticked off the EU partners. The Trump acolyte addressing an election rally of the German far-right Alternative for Democracy only worsened the trust deficit on Team Trump. </p><p>Vance drove the last nail when he played wrecking ball at the Munich Security Conference in February, dragging the EU over hot coal by declaring he was more worried about Europe facing threats from “within” than from Russia or China. He went on to chastise Europe for retreating from “some of its most fundamental values shared with” the US.</p>.<p>With the Trump tariffs now loaded and locked for an April 2 launch, the EU is left with no other option but to deploy countermeasures in slapping increased tariffs on American goods from April 11. As Spiegel International screamed in a recent editorial: “The old world order has collapsed. Donald Trump’s America is no longer an ally, it is an adversary.”</p>.<p>All this led to French President Emmanuel Macron finally getting the approval of Germany to accept what he had been advocating for eight years – Europe’s strategic autonomy. Macron’s proposal to put Europe on its own feet was for long seen as his pipe dream. But Trump’s tariff hikes, even on its closest NATO ally, changed that. Moments after winning the recent German national elections, Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz declared that his priority would be to “achieve independence from the USA.”</p>.<p>Armed with a new will, the EU struck back at Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium by announcing a two-stage retaliatory €26 billion ($28.34 billion) tariff on American products. Imports that would get affected include iconic American motorcycles Harley Davidson, Levi’s jeans, and bourbons such as Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s. Trump countered the 50% tariff on American bourbons by threatening a 200% tariff on European liquor.</p>.<p>The flare-up from the White House has already affected sales of American products in the EU. But unlike Canada, they are still available in Europe. But Tesla sales plunged in Germany by almost 60% in January, compared to a year ago, following Musk’s support to AfD. “The countermeasures we take today are strong but proportionate. As the US is applying tariffs worth $28 billion, we are responding with countermeasures worth €26 billion,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained in a statement.</p>.<p><strong>A necessary regrouping</strong></p>.<p>The 27-nation bloc wants to send a clear message to the Trump administration that the EU is no pushover. With a population of over 450 million and a GDP of nearly $19 trillion, as against America’s $28 trillion, the EU is still in the big league. Repeated jibes at the EU by both Trump and his team are not being taken well in Europe which has begun to reinvent itself.</p>.<p>In a recent post on his Truth Social, Trump slammed the “Globalist” Wall Street Journal over its coverage of the stock market crash. “They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of “screwing” the United States of America,” Trump declared in a no-holds-barred attack on European values.</p>.<p>An immediate consequence of Trump’s tariff war and pro-Russian Ukraine policy is the EU ramping up its defence budget. By merely agreeing to enhance the defence spending by 1.5%, the EU has an outlay of €650 billion ($708 billion) for re-arming Europe in view of the changed geopolitical situation.</p>.<p>The German Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, on Tuesday removed a debt ceiling by passing a historic package of €500 billion ($544 billion) for investments in the military, infrastructure and climate in keeping with the changing geopolitical order.</p>.<p>While the EU still needs America for trade and military support, the idea is to reduce the crippling dependence on Washington. The Franco-German engine is sputtering to start a new course in European autonomy while still being part of NATO, as the region aims at a new order with Trump smashing the old one. EU leaders admit that the process will be arduous and expensive, but one that must be set in motion, now.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is a senior journalist based in Berlin)</em></p>