Ursula von der Leyen likely woke up relieved on April 10 after US President Donald Trump had decided to postpone tariffs on the European Union. Only the day before, the EU had announced it would retaliate with tariffs on selected products, including almonds and soybeans. Yet, in their official appearances, EU officials appeared eager – if not desperate – to negotiate a different solution.
The EU’s dependence on the United States has loomed heavily over the region in recent months, as tense relations with the new administration signaled an impending blow to an already hurting industrial sector – and, by extension, to the living conditions of millions of Europeans. Reacting to this uncertainty, progressive voices across Europe have ramped up calls to reject Trump’s coercive tactics and instead focus on building an economic system centered on people’s needs. Although the tariffs have been postponed, their calls have not lost on urgency.
Finding tools to target multinationals and the super-rich
Representatives of The Left in the European Parliament have been among those most critical of the EU’s official response, describing it as feeble and misdirected. Rather than giving in to blackmail and pleading for negotiations, some of their parliamentarians argued during a press conference on Wednesday that the EU should make use of tools already available through the 2023 Anti-Coercion Instrument. This mechanism allows for a broader set of countermeasures, including restrictions on intellectual property rights, limits on foreign direct investment, and the application of digital duties in response to economic bullying by foreign governments.
“It’s clear that a full-on tariff war will just lead to everyone losing,” said The Left’s co-chair Manon Aubry. “Only big multinationals will make money out of it. This is why the Anti-Coercion Instrument has many tools, tariffs are just one of them. Restricting access to the common market? That will definitely have an impact on multinationals, maybe more than tariffs alone.”
Read more: With 67% of the population considered “poor”, Lesotho gears up to face highest US tariff rate
A focused and strategic use of these tools, Aubry and her colleagues argue, would allow the EU to raise resources for industrial policy while directly targeting the multimillionaires who form the core of Trump’s support base. “We must stop appeasing the tech-fascists,” said bloc co-chair Martin Schirdewan, stressing that the path taken by the current EU leadership is nowhere near this vision. Schirdewan and his colleagues also warned that the EU’s behavior risks disproportionately harming Europe’s working class.
Trade unions have shared similar concerns since the US administration first announced its intention to impose sweeping tariffs on EU products. Rather than engaging in a tit-for-tat exchange, many union activists advocate stabilizing Europe’s industrial base. Union confederations have called for increased investment in jobs, particularly in sectors such as automotive production, along with planning that looks beyond the short-term horizon of a single US presidency.
“Europe needs to invest in its industries urgently – but we knew this before this trade conflict escalated,” said IndustriAll Europe General Secretary Judith Kirton-Darling at the end of March. “As we have been saying for months, now is the time to act. It is essential to secure our long-term social stability and economic security.”
A chance to break with free trade and capitalism
Yet both trade unions and progressives have been clear that they are not advocating narrow protectionism or a full-blown trade war. Instead, they call for expanded cooperation with countries beyond the US and a transformation of the production and distribution systems to meet people’s real needs. These calls, however, appear to have fallen on deaf ears. EU officials opted for plans involving more trade agreements and have even floated further liberalizing trade relations with the US in hopes of appeasing the Trump administration.
Read more: China retaliates with 84% tariff as Trump’s trade war escalates to 125%
Aubry pointed out that Trump’s economic plans are not simply instruments of trade, but also mechanisms in the service of the US imperial project. “The best way to respond to this situation is not through further trade liberalisation, as the European Commission suggests, but by proposing a radically different economic and social project — one that breaks with free trade and capitalism,” she said.
According to progressives and trade unions alike, a central element of this alternative vision should be the development of Europe’s own production and distribution chains – creating quality jobs and addressing people’s needs at the same time – financed through mechanisms such as a wealth tax. This vision remains equally important despite the three-month reprieve: von der Leyen may have felt relieved on April 10, but unless the EU changes course, this relief will not last for long.
