Germany’s Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, issued a blunt call for European unity on Wednesday, warning that the continent must not capitulate to what he described as Donald J. Trump’s coercive trade tactics. Speaking just days after the president announced sweeping new tariffs on European Union goods, Habeck argued that only collective pressure could shift Washington’s calculus, noted NBC News.
“Trump retreats when met with resistance,” Habeck said at a press conference in Berlin, his tone more resolute than rhetorical. “We must not wait and hope—this is a day for determination.”
The tariffs, a 20 percent levy on EU imports, landed with immediate force, battering Germany’s export-heavy economy. The DAX index fell 1.6 percent in early trading, while bond yields across the eurozone dipped as markets absorbed the prospect of a transatlantic trade war. Though the White House has yet to clarify the full scope of the new policy, the message was unambiguous: Europe is in the crosshairs.
Germany, now more economically entwined with the United States than with China—with bilateral trade totaling €253 billion ($279 billion) in 2024—finds itself exposed. The economic bond that once seemed a stabilizing force has become a point of leverage.
Habeck did not mince words about what’s at stake. He likened the moment to past European miscalculations—most notably, Germany’s dependence on Russian energy before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine—arguing that the continent can no longer afford illusions about the reliability of its strategic partners. “
He urged investment not only in military readiness but in strategic technologies—artificial intelligence, space innovation, cloud computing—sectors he described as “non-negotiable” for preserving Europe’s autonomy in a more adversarial world.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking from Brussels, condemned Trump’s strategy.
“There seems to be no order in the disorder, no clear path to the complexity and chaos that is being created as all U.S. trading partners are hit,” she said.
“Uncertainty will spiral and trigger the rise of further protectionism, [and] the consequences will be dire for millions of people around the globe, also for the most vulnerable countries, which are now subject to some of the highest U.S. tariffs.”
The European leader noted that she did agree with Trump that some countries have been taking unfair advantage of the current rules in world trade and that the E.U. was ready to support efforts to make the global trading system “fit for the realities of the global economy.”
However, she also warned the U.S. that “reaching for tariffs as your first and last tool will not fix it.”
Whether that unity can be sustained—across 27 member states with divergent interests and economic exposure—is now the defining test. The coming weeks may determine whether Europe reasserts itself as a geopolitical actor or absorbs yet another blow from a more assertive Washington.
