Morning opening: 'Nice to wrap it all up in one package'
US president Donald Trump stepped away from the brink of an all-out trade war last night, suspending his “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days for everyone but China to create space for negotiations on better arrangements.
Trump appeared surprised when asked about the EU’s retaliatory tariffs adopted yesterday, only to be reassured by his officials that the expectation is that they will be effectively delayed until never.
Overnight, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed Trump’s decision as she said it was “an important step towards stabilising the global economy.”
She also floated again the idea of a zero-for-zero tariff agreement with the US, saying she hoped to achieve “frictionless and mutually beneficial trade.”
But that by no means the end of this chaotic process.
In further remarks in the Oval Office, Trump appeared to once again link the presence of US troops in Europe to the outcome of trade talks with the bloc.
Asked if he had any plans to reduce US presence on the continent, as reported by US media, he said:
Well, we could. I mean, it depends. We pay for military over in Europe. You know, we don’t get reimbursed by much. …
So it would be one of the things we discuss that’s unrelated to trade, but I think we’ll make it part of it, because [it] makes sense, [would] be nice to wrap it all up in one package for each country. You know, it’s nice and clean.
His comments will further fuel speculations about the future of the US military presence, after Poland and Romania got spooked earlier this week with reports that the US was looking into pulling as many as 10,000 troops out of central and eastern Europe.
I covered all of this earlier this week, including top US general in Europe Christopher Cavoli’s comments that he would want to maintain the US forces as they are now (Europe Live on Tuesday).
But in less than reassuring comments overnight, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that “the only person that will make a determination about force structure of US troops in Europe will be president Trump.”
“We will continue to have ongoing discussions, including inside the context of Ukraine-Russia negotiations, of what our force posture should be on the continent that best addresses American interests and ensures burden sharing in Europe as well,” he added.
Given Russia’s past demands of ‘demilitarisation’ in parts of Europe, particularly those that joined Nato after 1997, this is unlikely to placate these regional fears.
The comments come just as representatives of the “Coalition of the Willing” meet in Brussels to talk about their future options for Ukraine. Plenty to consider.
I will bring you all the latest on that throughout the day.
It’s Thursday, 10 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
