For months, European Union leaders have been warning that they need to move smartly to survive in what they describe as an “an era of hyper-competitive and hyper-transactional geopolitics”.
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Now, as the bloc prepares to hit the negotiating tables with the world’s two major superpowers, its deal-making mettle is about to be put to the test.
On the other, it faces a United States that wants to force the world to cut their trading ties with China and choose Trump’s America, but which has shown little sign of being willing to make concessions for anyone willing to do so.
Caught in the middle, Europe must navigate between two powers from whom it wants to get economic carve-outs, knowing that cutting a deal with one could make it impossible to do so with the other.
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Further complicating matters is the fact that the US and China are edging closer to negotiations of their own, with some fearing Europe could be left high and dry. It is no wonder officials in Brussels talk frequently about performing a “high-wire act”.
