Finalized in Scotland on July 27, the preliminary trade deal between the United States and the European Union (EU) stands out as one of only eight deals secured by the United States in advance of the Trump administration’s August 1 reciprocal tariff deadline. While the bloc avoided the threatened 30 percent tariff on all EU imports, the deal puts in place a 15 percent tariff on hundreds of EU goods from cars to wine to machinery. Not only does the deal leave many in Europe unhappy about the consequences for Europe’s businesses, it also comes on the heels of a major defense spending pledge NATO allies announced at the Alliance’s summit in June, when allies agreed to raise their national defense spending targets from 2 percent to 5 percent of their economies over the next decade (including defense-related spending). On the surface, the trade deal is a major European concession to US economic demands. But seen through a security lens, both the trade deal and NATO’s defense spending pledge can be viewed as part of a short-term European strategy to keep their most important ally engaged on security and defense matters in which Europe remains overwhelmingly dependent on the United States. Will Europe’s strategy work, and at what expense for Europe’s own political and economic cohesion?
Europe’s play to keep Trump happy cannot come at the expense of a longer-term strategy (Torrey Taussig and Josh Lipsky – Atlantic Council)
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