EU awakens to reality of 'America First'

While US tariffs pose threat to continent, experts see chance for greater autonomy

Tariffs of 25 percent that US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on the European Union may push the bloc toward greater strategic autonomy, even if uncertainties remain on how far things will go, experts say.

"If Trump imposes the threatened 25-percent tariffs or any tariffs on Europe, which he has so far only indicated but not implemented, it will send the Europeans further down the road that they are already taking, which is, increasingly, they are talking about their own autonomy," said Radhika Desai, a professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba in Canada and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

"But with Trump it's hard to tell. One day he is imposing tariffs, and another day he is reversing or modifying them. Exactly how that unfolds will depend."