The world under Trump’s tariffs “could actually be the EU’s moment”
VIDEO | If negotiating trade barriers with Donald Trump – in person at the White House – is a token of seniority, Cecilia Malmström has it. On the morning of 22 May, the former European Commissioner opened the Treasury 360° Nordic 2025 conference with a keynote speech that took a look at the world from a geopolitical and trade perspective.
Trump’s fondness for tariffs is not new – he just has a much larger stage to be vocal about them every time he is president. Malmström recalls hearing talk of them even in the early 80s. “He genuinely believes that tariffs are a good way to collect revenues and to rebalance the trading system that he thinks has taken advantage of the US for decades.”
The rest of the world – including the EU – doesn’t agree with Trump. “Tariffs are taxes, and taxes are paid by consumers and ordinary people. They also tend to be inflationary,” Malmström points out.
The EU would much rather facilitate trade with the US, but in lieu of that, Malmström highlights a few possible solutions: the zero-for-zero tariff offer, where the US and EU enter a mutual agreement to remove tariffs on each other’s goods; counter tariffs, although “nobody really wants to escalate”; broadening the EU’s network and alliances outside of the US; and investing in improving the bloc’s innovativeness and competitiveness.
On the third point, Malmström says, “There are many countries in the world that are not the US. Most of them actually want to trade with one another – and they want to do so according to a predictable set of rules and laws.”
She sees opportunities in the many trade agreements the EU has that are in the pipeline or already existing, that could be finalised or upgraded. “The times of Trump tariffs (in his previous presidency and current one) have actually been a push for countries to sit together and finalise deals that have been difficult for quite some time.” She quickly fires off a number of countries that the EU is currently in talks with – Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Mexico.
Malmström had an encouraging message to end. “The EU is still trying to find its way in this world… It is important to follow what’s happening in Washington but we cannot be obsessive about it. It will be unpredictable; it will be hard to see what’s coming; there is no real strategy. It will get worse before it gets better. But if we can unite the EU with other like-minded countries, we can increase our trade and cooperation and the EU can use this crisis as a catalyst for change that we know must be done… If it is well handled, even if the world is a shaky place… It could actually be the EU’s moment.”
Cecilia Malmström is a senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former EU trade commissioner.
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