In Trump's game of chicken, the EU cannot afford to back down

Donald Trump's trade policy has been labelled "Taco" - "Trump always chickens out" - by his critics. But when it comes to his latest trade war with the EU, it's Brussels that risks chickening out. The US and the EU have been negotiating for months on an agreement. This week Trump made the shock announcement that the US would hit the EU with punitive tariffs on goods at a crippling 30% rate from 1 August. This was in addition to separate steel and aluminium tariffs, and cars at even more punitive rates. Blindsided Brussels negotiators calculated the economic damage, and…