The European MO in that respect is very consistent : take time to deliberate, reach consensus and apply pressure in kind. It's at odds with the news cycle but I prefer that over instant gratification.
If the US wants tarrifs, that is their business. EU merely balances it.
The EU spent €326 billion on its military in 2024. Add €350 billion to that, and you're looking at real-value spending higher than the U.S. military budget. On top of that, if that money is spent within the EU, you get economic growth plus full independence from the U.S.
Trump is overplaying his hand with both the EU and China—especially with China, where some minerals essential to modern manufacturing are mined and processed almost entirely there (90%+ in some cases). You can't do cost-effective manufacturing in many industries without China—at least not for many years to come.
Brussels is watching amazed, as Trump destroys the US economy. "Nobody in the Commission thought that the US government would be this stupid and self-destructive," an EU official tells me. "That they would blow up their own country by letting ChatGPT make their trade policy." EU officials are quietly preparing brutal countermeasures — but they’re in no rush. Markets are doing the work for them. Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes: Trump’s chaos is collapsing the US markets faster than any EU retaliation could. Inside the Commission and among EU governments, the mood is: Don't give Trump an excuse to blame this on others. Since February, the S&P 500 has dropped 20%. European officials believe Trump's trade chaos is backfiring — and see no reason to escalate while the damage grows organically. Inside the Commission and among EU trade ministers, the mood is calm — almost mocking. “We’ll just let them stew,” another senior official says. “If Trump doesn’t blink by the end of the month, we’re ready to hit hard.” But for now? They'll watch him sweat. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck summed up the mood: “We're under no time pressure. The Americans are under pressure and are now in a position of weakness,” he said. “The damage can get even worse — that’s why we must act calmly, carefully, but decisively.” Habeck also mocked Elon Musk’s call for a US-EU "zero-tariff" deal: “It's sign of weakness and fear. If he has something to say, he should go to his President... Before we talk about zero tariffs, stop the nonsense and mess you just made in the last week.”