Feb. 24, 2025 |
Set adrift. The first move was economic: On February 13, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to prepare for reciprocal tariffs in April on countries that put import duties on American products. Speaking afterward, Trump singled out European Union trade practices as “brutal”; the order designates the value-added tax, a staple across the European Continent, as a trade barrier for reciprocal measures. Brussels issued a statement that it would respond “firmly and immediately” if the U.S. goes through with the tariffs—but so far has otherwise done nothing.
Then came the challenges to European, especially Ukrainian, security: The U.S. and Russia arranged talks with one another in Saudi Arabia last week, excluding Ukraine and Europe, while European leaders met separately in Paris—where they ignored the tariffs and struggled to align their positions on Ukraine’s future security arrangements.
Why can’t Europe get its act together? In this week’s member’s dispatch, we return to our conversation with Matthias Matthijs about the simultaneous, epochal problems the Continent is facing—and why its political systems are struggling to produce the kind of strong government necessary for the moment.
—Michael Bluhm
From the weekly Signal member’s despatch.