Europe made a “historic” blunder by caving to the Trump administration on tariffs during Trump’s second term, the former Canadian trade minister who helped negotiate the US-Mexico-Canada deal during the first Trump administration told Semafor.
“A real problem for the Western alliance has been the decision by the UK and by the EU to give in to the Trump bullying on tariffs,” Chrystia Freeland said. “People thought appeasement would win a reprieve for us all.”
The EU and UK have each negotiated with the administration following the imposition of unilateral tariffs, and the former agreed to a pact that went into effect this year. US trade relations with Canada, meanwhile, have broken down, and Ottawa has announced counter-tariffs following US pressure.
Freeland, who is out with a new book, said it’s “possible” albeit difficult for the US and Canada to return to a constructive relationship. That might need to wait until Trump is out of office, though.
“There would have to be a clear break because the problem is: How do you do a deal with someone who already broke the deal that you did with them?” she said.