The EU is readying itself for the potential return to power of former US President Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, after speaking with over a dozen European politicians, diplomats and policymakers.
The interviews indicated the bloc has been seeking to lower its dependence and reliance on the US no matter who gets elected, with policymakers expressing more confidence, given that they’ve already experienced one Trump term, the daily noted. Still, various contingency plans have been formulated to deal with the situation should the Republican hopeful beat his Democratic rival VP Kamala Harris.
“One thing is clear: We’re not sitting here like a rabbit caught in headlights. Regardless of who wins the US election, the focus of US attention in the future will increasingly be on the Indo-Pacific. Europeans will have to do even more for their security,” German Defense Ministry spokesman Michael Stempfle told the newspaper.
The EU has been exploring options to “Trump proof” its security, as during his first time in office he repeatedly pressed NATO allies there to contribute more to collective security, and even threatened to exit the US-led bloc altogether, leaving Europeans on their own. While such an attitude has been primarily associated only with the-ex president, it is expected to continue with other figures in the White House regardless.
“It is a fact that Joe Biden is probably the last president who is truly transatlantic in the traditional sense – in terms of his character and career,” deputy chair of Germany’s parliamentary committee for foreign affairs Thomas Erndl has said. “That is why Europe must take on more responsibility, especially when it comes to security.”
The bloc has also been preparing itself for a potential new trade war with Trump. Last time he was in office, he imposed harsh steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, and during his election campaign has repeatedly pledged to go even further.
EU officials have already drafted lists of retaliatory tariffs to counter any potential moves by Washington, and has hatched a plan to offer Trump to go against allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices instead, unnamed EU officials told the daily.
“I think there’s a sense that we should be better prepared and not think that just because we hope a trade war doesn’t happen, it won’t,” an unnamed EU diplomat has said.