In 2011, Europe faced a debt crisis without having the necessary economic tools, nor the political cohesion to build them. It was an existential crisis that nearly led the euro to collapse.
Fourteen years later, the trade war initiated by Trump found Europe equally unprepared, even though this time it had the right tool, namely the exclusive competence to negotiate international trade agreements on behalf of its 27 member states.
The result was a negative trade agreement that weakens its role in the world and makes it vulnerable to the exacerbation of its internal divisions. A dark moment that will have long-term consequences.
The agreement is totally asymmetrical: Europe gains nothing. Moreover, the pact exposes the hypocrisy of those who, in words, defend multilateralism but, in fact, agree to sign an agreement that violates the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is an agreement that unequivocally shows its weakness.
But the real question is why Europe did not choose to challenge Trump's bullying and respond with an "eye for an eye" retaliation strategy based on strategic alliances with other countries. This strategy could have been based on smart trade agreements with those economies with which we have significant complementarities and would have isolated the United States, avoiding the trap of a bilateral negotiation.
Of course, a trade war would have been risky, but the economic and political consequences of such a conflict would have been worse for the United States than for us. Let us not forget that the US, with its enormous debt to refinance, would have also had to face the consequences of its isolation on debt market volatility.
Europe did not pursue this strategy because it depends on the US for its defense and key technologies, but also because, despite having the mandate to negotiate on behalf of all the Union's states, it is weakened by divergent interests among its member countries and their different political sensitivities.
Europe is the third world power by GDP, but it is a giant with feet of clay.
