SUBSCRIBER-ONLY NEWSLETTER
By Ross Douthat
Opinion Columnist
This week, the European Union agreed to a trade deal with the United States that amounts to a capitulation to Donald Trump.
Yes, Trump had already made certain concessions in advance, by pre-emptively walking back his outrageous opening gambit in the tariff war when markets rebelled against the policy. But since that walk-back, the president has enjoyed a run of victories, establishing a new base line for U.S. tariff revenue with minimal retaliation from our trading partners. The deal that Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, sealed with Trump is part of this new normal, in which most countries appear willing to pay extra for access to our markets, and it’s not America but the rest of the world that seems to be chickening out.
