EU will be reeling over how to tackle trade talks after Trump’s 30% tariff threat

News Snapshot:

Second-guessing Donald Trump is a fool’s errand. But Saturday’s shock threat to impose tariffs of 30% on the EU is a blow to the bloc’s confidence, which had already secretly capitulated during negotiations with diplomats revealing they had to sacrifice trade for the wider prize of security and defence of the continent. It is worth pausing to consider what happened in the last three weeks in the EU. Up to the middle of June Brussels had brandished its economic power in negotiations with €1.4bn (£1.2bn) at stake for one of the US’s most important trading partners. Officials and diplomats were...