The European Union are happy to ‘watch Trump sweat’ on his tariffs policy as they prepare a response.
This week has seen stock markets across the world plunge in reaction to Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs on imports to the US.
Monday saw huge losses in European, Asian and American markets. Despite small signs of recovery on Tuesday morning, economists are still warning of huge volatility and fragility in the markets for the coming days and weeks.
The EU was hit with a 20 per cent and has refused to rule out placing reciprocal tariffs on US goods being imported into the bloc.
However, they are in no rush to play their hand at the moment according to German journalist Jakob Hanke, and are happy to sit back and watch Trump ‘destroy the US economy.’
In a thread on X, Vela said EU officials had told him they were stunned by how “stupid and self-destructive” the US had been, saying they had “blown up their own country by letting ChatGPT make their trade policy.”
The business journalist said officials are “quietly preparing brutal countermeasures” but are in “no rush” to announce anything, explaining that Trump’s actions are “collapsing the US markets faster than any EU retaliation could.”
He continued: “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.”
One senior official told Vela they were happy to let America “stew,” but that if Trump doesn’t backtrack on his tariffs by the end of April then the EU would be “ready to hit hard.”
Meanwhile, German Economy minister Robert Habeck hit out at Elon Musk for his recent calls for zero tariffs between the EU and the US, saying this was a “sign of weakness and fear.”
He added: “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.”
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