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Thomas O. Falk

Donald Trump called it “Liberation Day”. Last week, with characteristic theatricality, the United States president unleashed a barrage of tariffs on America’s trading partners: 10 per cent on most imports, 34 per cent on Chinese goods and 20 per cent on products from the European Union. The message was vintage Trump: “America first”, rules be damned.
But for all the patriotic bravado, this move was not liberation but escalation. It also presents Europe with a historic opportunity, not just to defend itself from economic aggression but to reshape the global trading order now that Trump’s America has abdicated its traditional role as steward.
In the pantheon of presidential spectacles, few moments encapsulate the unseriousness of Trump’s America as vividly as his “Liberation Day” performance. Standing in the Rose Garden, the president brandished a chart purportedly detailing the tariffs other nations impose on the US, juxtaposed against his administration’s retaliatory measures.
The tariffs were concocted through a flawed formula that equated trade deficits with tariff rates, a methodology no reputable economist would endorse. This wasn’t just economic illiteracy but the hallmark of a presidency preferring showmanship to strategy. In such hands, the United States forfeits its claim to global leadership as leadership demands a grasp of reality, not a penchant for illusion.
Trump’s trade philosophy is rooted in a 19th-century world view: zero-sum, mercantilist and proudly transactional. Gone is the post-war consensus of multilateralism and shared prosperity. In its place stands a crude leverage game. The US, he believes, is the indispensable market and everyone else should pay for the privilege of access.
But as the saying reminds us, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Trump’s latest assault on trade partners and allies demands not a bowed head but a stiffened spine. It isn’t the moment for genuflection but the hour to seize the mantle of global leadership, a role Europe must now claim with both hands.


For all its flaws, Brussels still believes in order. Not just economic order, but the order that stems from rules, norms and mutual obligation. Now it must do more than believe – it must act.
Before Trump’s “Liberation Day”, Brussels was already finalising a first package of tariffs on up to €26 billion (US$28.4 billion) of US goods in response to US steel and aluminium tariffs which took effect last month. Further retaliation is already in motion, likely in the form of tariffs targeting industries in the electoral soft spots of Trump’s coalition.
Smart, but insufficient. Tit-for-tat tariffs are a tactic rather than a vision; Europe must pivot, not just parry. That pivot begins with rethinking Europe’s place in the global trade architecture, putting itself forward as a politically and economically independent peer of the US rather than a junior partner – and acting like one by diversifying its trade approach.
China could be an uneasy but indispensable partner at the centre of this strategy. EU-China trade reached €739 billion in 2023, making China the EU’s second-largest trading partner after the US. Rather than retreat, Europe should pursue a targeted trade deal with China, one that is neither naive nor reckless but rooted in strategic self-interest.


Such a pact could focus on reciprocal access, intellectual property protections and regulatory alignment in select sectors, particularly green tech and high-end manufacturing. For Europe, the gains could be substantial in the form of new export channels, diversification of supply chains and a strengthened foothold in Asia’s largest economy. For China, it would signal seriousness about reform and offer a vital hedge against US economic hostility.
However, Europe should also look beyond China. The Mercosur bloc in South America, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the African Continental Free Trade Area – these groupings are the scaffolding of a multipolar trade future. Europe should fast-track talks and offer tariff cuts and technical aid to nations aligning with its standards.
Picture a deal with Brazil by 2027 flooding European ports with sustainable beef, or a pact with Vietnam securing semiconductors. The idea is not to decouple from the US – at least not yet – but to have insurance against the Trump presidency, whose worst days might still be ahead.
At the same time, Europe must shed its internal lethargy. The single market remains half-finished, with services fragmented, digital integration stalled and infrastructure underfunded. The response from Europe must go beyond counter-tariffs. It must chart a course for industrial resilience.




None of this will be cheap or tidy. Coordination across 27 nations is a diplomatic slog. But the alternative – a Europe lashed to Washington’ unpredictable electoral chaos – is bleaker still.
Trump’s tariffs aren’t just about goods. They’re a manifesto of isolation, a rejection of the global order America once forged. But history whispers a different story, one of hubris meeting its match. In 1930, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act turned a recession into a global depression, proving isolation’s bitter cost. Trump’s “Liberation Day” carries that same swagger.
The difference is that Europe, a fractured mess then, is now a union with muscle. It can write a sharper ending, not with bluster but with a calm, unyielding plan. A Europe that hits back with tariffs on Harley-Davidsons and iPhones, yes, but also one that weaves a trade web from Shenzhen to Sao Paulo. A Europe that proves leadership isn’t about volume or threats but about outlasting the loudmouths.
Trump wants a fight. Europe should give him a lesson.


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European Union

How Europe can teach Trump a hard lesson on free trade

Illustration: Craig Stephens

If the EU adopts a ‘US plus one’ strategy, Hong Kong has a role to play

China has the tools to weather Trump storm, Premier Li tells EU’s von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday. They agreed to host an EU-China summit in July. Photo: AFP

Premier Li Qiang said China’s resolute measures “defend international trade rules and international fairness and justice”. Photo: AFP

EU hits back at Trump’s trade war with US$28 billion in planned tariffs on US imports

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left) and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency Maros Sefcovic (right) before a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on March 11. Photo: EPA-EFE

French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) speaks during a meeting with representatives of the sectors affected by US tariffs at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ireland’s head of government Taoiseach Micheal Martin speaks during a joint press conference with EU officials over the 20 per cent tariff on imports from the EU announced by US President Donald Trump, in Dublin on Thursday. Photo: AP

Trump’s tariffs offer China an opportunity riding a dangerous wind

An employee checks welding wire at a factory which produces welding products for both domestic and foreign markets, in Taizhou in China’s eastern Jiangsu province on March 27. Photo: AFP

Trump’s plan for port fees on Chinese-made ships won’t save US shipyards

A cargo ship full of containers at Oakland port as trade tensions escalate over US tariffs, in California, US, on March 6. Photo: Reuters

Ships under construction in a Taicang shipyard in eastern China’s Jiangsu province on January 16. Photo: AFP

Major shipping group CMA CGM’s liquefied natural gas-powered container ship being built at the Shanghai Jiangnan-Changxing Shipyard in Shanghai. An estimated 53 per cent of its order book is or will be built in China. Photo: Undated handout

Baltimore port in Maryland, US, seen on March 31, is already braced for a hit as the top importer of cars, as Trump orders a 25 per cent tariff on foreign car imports. Photo: AFP

Opinion

World Opinion

News

World

Europe

Unlike in the 1930s, Europe is united and capable of weaving a global trade web that spans from Shenzhen to Sao Paulo


Unlike in the 1930s, Europe is united and capable of weaving a global trade web that spans from Shenzhen to Sao Paulo.


Trade

US-ally trade wars

US-China trade war

China-EU relations

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


How Europe can teach Trump a hard lesson on free trade

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Unlike in the 1930s, Europe is united and capable of weaving a global trade web that spans from Shenzhen to Sao Paulo

Unlike in the 1930s, Europe is united and capable of weaving a global trade web that spans from Shenzhen to Sao Paulo