US flattens EU: Brussels is too weak to be a pole in a multipolar world

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The trade deal on July 27 between America and the European Union was disastrous for Europe. The Financial Times described it as “the EU [succumbing] to Trump’s steamroller.” The deal sees the EU agree to a broad-based 15 per cent tariff on all goods exported to the US, except for steel and aluminium, which will see higher tariffs. The EU will also spend $250 billion (€214 billion) on American energy per year for the next three years. Europe also is dropping their own tariffs.

The deal is shockingly one-sided; the only thing the EU “got” was President Donald Trump not engaging in a trade war.But while Commission President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated the deal, this truly is not her fault. The European Union is stuck in this situation – where they have to see NATO’s General Secretary (and former long-term Dutch prime minister) call Trump “Daddy” and then, weeks later, engage in a humiliating trade deal – because the EU is fundamentally not built for a multipolar world. Instead, it’s been stuck in what could be called its “Articles of Confederation” stage.

America’s current constitution is not its first governing agreement. That was the Articles of Confederation, which were written during the Revolutionary War. The Articles were a loose association of the 13 states where each state had immense powers; unanimity was needed to make key decisions, and the “central government” – a Congress elected from each state – could only act by getting permission from the governments of the 13 states. Sound familiar?

This system came and went quickly. By 1787, America’s leaders realised that, in the multipolar world of the late 1790s, America could simply not exist as a viable state with such a weak governing structure. The country was unable to take action; not with the British or French poles, not in regard to its own continent, not even with its own defence or taxation policies. Needing to ask every state for permission led to massive delays and an inability to take decisive action. By 1789, America had a new constitution, a president, George Washington, and a new governing model. The rest is history.