Trump’s trade wars push Europe into action, but Brussels is sabotaging its own rescue plan

2026-01-26 - 18:51

Europe is rethinking transatlantic trust as US-EU trade tensions deepen. Brussels is positioning the EU as the world’s most reliable alternative trading partner. India is now Brussels’ top strategic trade target; An EU-India deal would connect 2 billion people and a quarter of global GDP. Brussels is expanding trade talks across Asia, the Gulf and the Pacific. Europe’s greatest risk is not outside pressure — but internal division. Fear of rising US protectionism and the combative rhetoric emerging from the White House are accelerating the European Union’s global trade push — but internal divisions threaten to undercut Brussels’ ambitions at a critical moment for the world economy. For more than a year, governments worldwide have been on edge as the United States slapped on tariffs and repeatedly dangled the threat of trade wars. The unpredictability of President Donald Trump’s trade posture has injected urgency into global diplomacy, forcing nations to seek new alliances as