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April 9, 2025
Too Little, Too Late European Union! To Friends Across The Atlantic, Your Offer Comes At Least Forty Years Too Late - And More Than A Few Hundred Billion American Dollars Short
It took the prospect of a second Trump presidency for Brussels to suddenly discover the virtues of free trade. Ursula von der Leyen nowdangles a zero-for-zero tariff dealyears too late and painfully transparent.
Yes, really.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Europe should have made that offer a long time agobefore the first tariffs, before the steel and aluminum disputes, before their hypocritical WTO filings.
Without question, before they spent years lecturing U.S. administrations on the supposed virtues of multilateral trade regimes they had rigged to their advantage.
American taxpayers have subsidized European peace, prosperity, and strategic irrelevance for eight decades. From the beaches of Normandy to the barricades of Berlin, U.S. servicemembers gave their lives to offer Europe a second chance at civilization.
They got it.
And they used it to build social democracies on the back of American hard powerand, yes, American manufacturing decline.
Whether through the Marshall Plan or NATOs Article 5, we supplied the troops, tanks, and treasury. In return, Europe slapped tariffs on American goods, sued U.S. tech companies, outsourced their energy policy to Moscow, and surrendered industrial policy to Brussels.
This makes it all the more bitterly ironic that they now cry foulthat Trumps tariffsare no way to treat an ally.
Where was zero-for-zero when Reagan rebuilt American strength after the stagflation years? How about at the end of the Cold War? Where was it when Bill Clinton pushed for Chinas entry into the WTO while Europe quietly pocketed the spoils?
Where was it when Barack Obama let transatlantic relations drift, and the Europhile press anointed Angela Merkel as the leader of the free world? That didnt age well.
It wasnt on offer because Europe never feared losing access to the American market.
Until Trump.
Von der Leyens preemptive surrender was no gesture of goodwill. Its a plea from a cornered technocrat who sees whats coming: a second Trump term, a U.S. trade policy guided by strategic self-interest, and a world where the old racket of Euro-guilt-for-gain is finally over.
The European Union isnt negotiating from strength. Its bracing for another dose of realitythe same one Trump delivered in 2018 when he imposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, refused to be bullied in Davos,and told NATO membersto pay their fair share or else.
The media chorus, echoed by what passes for Democratic leadership these days, warned that Trumps tariffs would ignite trade wars and isolate America. But now Brussels is courting the supposed isolationist with an offer to zero out tariffs on industrial goods.
The legacy press and the political classfrom Capitol Hill to Foggy Bottomwont say it out loud, but Trumps tariffs are workingnot by inflicting pain, but by exposing the lie that one-sided trade could last forever.
Europe no longer gets to sell cars in Detroit while banning beef from Kansas. They dont get to bathe in American consumer demand while shielding Airbus and their state-backed industries behind walls of protection.
This is what genuine negotiation looks like.
Trumps America First was never just a political sloganit's the strategic linchpin uniting his approach to trade, defense, energy, and diplomacy.
It sends a clear message to the world: if you want access to the largest consumer market on Earth, youd better stop treating American workers like afterthoughts and American industries like ATMsparticularly if your national security depends on American military power.
Of course, the foreign policy establishment and the Eurocentric corporatists will wring their hands. They pine for the old orderwhere diplomats talk, Americans pay, and European bureaucrats preen. Theyll urge Trump to take the deal as proof that his confrontational style has run its course and must now yield to the polite rituals of normal diplomacy.
He shouldnt fall for it.
If Europe is serious about free trade, then a symmetrical zero-for-zero offer is a startbut it cant stop there. It must extend to agriculture, digital services, energy infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. And the last of these is the greatest of these.
Why? Because the over-regulated quasi-state that is the European Union cloaks itself in high-minded process while issuing a thicket of overt and covert edicts designed to block market access for entire categories of American goods.
And while theyre at it, they can start spending 2.5% of GDP on defensenot in 2035, but now.
This isnt about punishing allies. Its about ending the decades-long arrangement in which America protects Europe, powers its recovery, and is left holding the bill.
The EUs sudden overture is a vindication, not a concession. It proves that Trump was right to confront what past presidents were too timid to touch. And it reveals the quiet desperation behind Europes polished press releases.
So, to our friends across the Atlantic, your offer is noted. But it comes at least forty years too lateand more than a few hundred billion American (not euro) dollars short.
For decades, you enjoyed the protection, prosperity, and patience of the United States while lecturing us on diplomacy, economics, and moralityand disappearing into the shadows when the chips were down.
Now you come bearing concessions only because you fear a president who demands something in return.
That isnt partnership.
Simply put, its not how friends treat their most vital ally.
Charlton Allenis an attorney, former chief executive officer, and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission.He is the founder of the Madison Center for Law & Liberty, Inc., editor ofThe American Salient,and the host of theModern Federalistpodcast. X: @CharltonAllenNC
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