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Trump's Trade War: What Answers for the European Union?

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Couverture Note Sébastien Jean 2025
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The announcement, on April 2, 2025, of “reciprocal tariffs” by the United States has opened a sequence of profound break with decades of established trade policy practices, where the administration behaviour has been marked by dogmatic blindness, amateurism, and self-serving interests. 

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USA and European Union Trade, Tariffs and Commercial War
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Finding a coherent strategy behind the rapid succession of measures, suspensions, and purported agreements is challenging, and the successive policy reversals are best explained by the administration’s own inconsistencies. The damage is nonetheless real for partners. For the European Union, it calls for firm but measured responses, without seeking symmetrical retaliation. While division is a threat, the inherent slowness of European procedures could be an asset in this context, as the United States will be confronted with its own contradictions. Broad retaliatory measures should be considered, beyond trade in goods, and the hypothesis of a first activation of the anti-coercion instrument should not be ruled out at this stage, on the contrary.

 

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979-10-373-1044-6

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Sébastien JEAN

Sébastien JEAN

Intitulé du poste

Associate Director of Ifri's Geoeconomics and Geofinance initiative

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Geoeconomics and Geofinance Initiative
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Economic questions are approached from a political economy perspective: the evolution of the global economic system, governance and institutions, dynamics and trends of various economic zones (United States, Russia, China, emerging markets...). European issues are at the core of our research. 

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Date de publication
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Accroche

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Date de publication
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Accroche

Turbulences and conflicts threaten the stability of the global order. What is the Global South’s response to these risks?

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Power and Financial Interdependence

Date de publication
03 May 2024
Accroche

The link between financial self-reliance and geopolitical power has long been debated. The unbalanced Sino-American trade relationship has created asymmetric financial ties which generate potential sources of leverage for both parties and will not quickly disappear. Absent a clarifying major crisis, it will be difficult to definitively determine which party has greater leverage.

Brad SETSER
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Date de publication
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New Chinese financial technologies, including unparalleled electronic payment systems, have so far failed to threaten U.S. financial dominance.

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USA and European Union Trade, Tariffs and Commercial War
Tomas Ragina/Shutterstock.com

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Couverture Note Sébastien Jean 2025
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