Paola Tamma

Well, shell-shocked is an often used adjective, but it definitely does fit the situation that we lived in one week ago when President Trump unleashed his threat of tariffs if he didn't get Greenland.

And the week just proceeded in a frenzy with European officials trying to make sense of this threat, trying to defuse it.

And then eventually taking a big collective sigh of relief on the Wednesday when he announced that he would not use force.

And then another one when it emerged that after a meeting with Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte, there was the contours of a deal, which meant that, you know, the tariff threats would be walked back.

But that said, even though the initial issue is right now off the table, there is a lot of head scratching going on around Europe on how to deal with the US going forward.

And I think that this threat, which hasn't been the first to levy tariffs on the EU, but it has been the first in the context of a potential territorial annexation of one of its allies, has really awoken Europeans to the fact that

Relations with the U.S.

are unpredictable.

They are potentially untrustworthy as a partner.

And what does that mean for Europeans?

And how do we deal with that issue going forward?

It's still a question that's very much alive.

I think so, at least in part.

I was covering also the EU-US negotiations on trade last summer when they achieved a very lopsided trade deal, one where the US would get lower tariffs on its exports to the EU, whereas the EU accepted a 15%.

So an increase in

in the tariffs that its products get levied in the US.

And why did we take that deal?

Well, because there was a realization that we couldn't have done any better, that in those circumstances, it was the better deal on the table.

And in the deep, in the back of the mind of everybody, the fact that the EU needs the US on other fronts too, specifically on security with NATO and with Ukraine.

And so at the time, the word of the day was appeasement and trying to get to an agreement.