Groping in the Dark : Turbulent Atlantic Waters.

AuthorCox, Robert
PositionEssay

"Can America run the world without allies?" Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, May 12/13, 2018

"For Europe in the mid-term, it will be increasingly difficult to continue meaningfully to rely on the US as the core partner to tackle global challenges." European Political Strategy Centre brief June 8, 2018

The Europe-US relationship is based on two pillars: a belief in and a promotion of a rules-based international order; a shared set of common values. Both of these pieces of mortar are crumbling. But the partners are not yet in the divorce court. Meanwhile Europeans increasingly sense that their familiar and otherwise comfortable world has gone.

European Union (EU) Commission President Claude Juncker came away from Washington on July 25 pocketing an outline deal with President Trump to "work together" towards "zero" tariffs, other barriers, subsidies--a whole shopping list ranging from automobiles to soya beans and natural gas, trade standards and "unfair global trade practices." Faced with this menu embracing the sublime and paltry, sceptics on both sides of the Pond will be forgiven misbelief. Why didn't they think of this earlier? Is it TTIP reborn? Will the US Congress, the European Parliament and EU Member States play ball? How did Mr Trump, yesterday's vicious enemy of the EU, suddenly seek its partnership? Mr Trump may be impulsive but not as in consequent asmany Europeans (and Americans) fondly believe. Or did somebody in Washington sit up and notice that the EU had other cards in its hands, to wit: the signing in Tokyo on July 6 of an Economic Partnership with Japan; ten days later in Peking at the EU-China Summit a statement laced with hyperbole about "partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilisation, based on the principles of mutual respect, trust, equality and mutual benefit." Eyewash? Evidence suggests that China and the EU, both targets of Mr Trump's ire, have decided it is time to stop dithering and go for common cause in a wide-ranging economic deal. In Brussels they have noticed something else. China hitherto suspected that a "rules-based" concept of international economic government was basically a US trap. Now, with Mr Trump bent on ripping up the rule-book, does Mr Xi think that rules are not such a bad idea after all? Whether he, Tokyo and Europe can persuade Mr Trump of such virtues remains to be seen. One unconfirmed Brussels story says the EU and Japan are talking to the US about a plan to save the WTO, a key...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT