Anton offers a realist’s view. I think ‘damage limitation’ was the mantra in Brussels and most EU capitals.
But that framing accepts the US tariffs as a given. And even if that’s right, sometimes you have to fight back to limit the damage. Europe had significant leverage it was unwilling to use.
@antonspisak.bsky.socialOn the EU-US deal:
I sympathise with the view that the EU was slow to act, and had it moved earlier, it may’ve secured a marginally better deal (though unlikely below 10%). But remember, the EU was negotiating from the position of a relative vulnerability: it has a large trade surplus with US, and
