Europe Braces For A New Trump Era

Trump’s return to the White House has plunged Europe’s business leaders and policymakers into a precarious era, and officials have been bracing for it. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm formed a never-officially-announced group, sometimes referred to as a “Trump task force,” that spent much of 2024 working on possible responses to changes to American trade and foreign policy, reported by NYT. There is almost no aspect of European policy that Trump does not seem poised to upend. He is threatening to impose sweeping tariffs and is pressing for much heftier European spending on defense. Two of his first acts as president were to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization. How he will adjust America’s stance toward Ukraine is one of the biggest questions.