Making Europe Great Again: Trump's Tariffs Is Yet Another Opportunity For Europe To Emerge As A Superpower.

Brussels’ Silver Lining: How Trump’s Trade Blitz Could Supercharge Europe.

• We have previously discussed how Trump’s threat of abandoning Ukraine and Europe at large could lead to a perverse outcome where the giant is awakened, and Europe emerges as a geopolitical and military superpower.

• The $1.1 trillion German spending on military and infrastructure, hundreds of billions announced EU-wide borrowing for rapid re-armament (starting with a 150 bn Euros borrowing plan that can go up in size up to 800bn Euros pretty soon), talks of seeking nuclear weapons in a number of EU countries like rapidly militarizing (defense spending at 4.7% of GDP) Poland, defense contractors like Rheinmettal urgently refurbishing VW car assembly lines to build tanks all demonstrate the trajectory ahead.

• Trump may get what he wants and European powers may spend so much on military (reducing strategically dangerous dependence on the U.S. military capabilities in the meantime) that Europe may emerge as a military (and thus geopolitical) superpower in the next 5-15 years.

• But there is yet another opportunity for the EU: Trump’s announced tariffs (if left unchanged or watered down) could turn the EU into a number 1 economic superpower in the medium to long term.

• Now, a flat 20% tariff on all EU goods announced by Trump on Wednesday, part of a broader protectionist offensive, did send tremors through Brussels and beyond.

• But behind the anxiety lies a paradox: Trump’s economic nationalism, while painful in the short run, may unlock strategic gains for the European Union—if Brussels is bold enough to seize them.

• This post breaks down six strategic opportunities the EU may extract from Washington’s erratic retreat behind tariff walls.

1. Capital Exodus: Investment Flows Rebalance Across the Atlantic.