EU tries to diversify business relations, experts say

The European Union is diversifying its trade relationships as the world shifts away from a predictable, rules-based system, experts warned last week.

The comments came during a virtual discussion hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The panel featured Penelope Naas, lead for allied strategic competitiveness at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and Luisa Santos, deputy director-general at BusinessEurope.

Naas said the Donald Trump administration's affinity for tariffs is a long-held conviction, now being deployed as a "Swiss army knife" to solve a range of issues.