EU tells Trump’s America: We have other options
Ursula von der Leyen casts Europe as an economic heavyweight that can forge new alliances during another “America First” presidency.
The EU is in no mood to beg for favorable treatment in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Instead, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday mapped out an upbeat vision of the EU as an economic heavyweight that was beating the U.S. in many key respects and was open for business with countries such as Mexico and China — while Trump sets himself on a collision course with those nations.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in her first major policy address since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration for a second term, von der Leyen avoided direct criticism of the president but drew clear and stark contrasts with America, especially by underlining the EU’s commitment to the Paris climate pact that Washington is ditching.
Europe, she said, still has the “biggest trading sector in the world” as well as “longer life expectancy, higher social and environmental standards, and lower inequalities than all our global competitors.”
