Good morning from Brussels. Since his inauguration, Donald Trump has been sending a simple message to the Europeans: the time to pay up has come. Trump essentially said yesterday that he loves Europe but not the EU. The latter is “unfair” because it has a high corporate tax, fines US tech firms, and runs a trade surplus in goods with the US. Its bureaucracy also poses obstacles to American investments. Moreover, he wants the EU to buy more American LNG. NATO’s chief also wants the EU to pay for Ukraine's future US defence equipment. The question is, who will pay for all this? Germany is facing recession for the third year in a row, while the Commission is struggling to ignore France’s ailing economy. More EU integration due to Trump sounds like a bit too idealistic, if we see clearly Europe’s new political balances. Becoming a de facto colony of the US is the more realistic scenario. |