“It’s been very successful,” said Daniel Mullaney, the former top U.S. negotiator on trade issues with Europe, of the TTC. “We’ve had high-level attention, including at the presidential levels, on all of these issues. That’s kept the momentum going.”
The question now is what happens if Trump wins back the White House in November. Even if Biden holds on for a second term, his economic agenda known as “Bidenomics” centers on government subsidies for local industries and a growing wariness of the global trading order.
Current officials dismiss those concerns, claiming Washington will always work closely with allies.
“Whomever is going to sit in the White House or in the Berlaymont building will have to factor in the fact that this trade and economic relationship between the US and EU is just too important,” said Leopoldo Rubinacci, deputy director general at the European Commission’s trade department.
Still, Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, has warned that he would impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports. In his first term, Trump also slapped tariffs on many European goods, and used the State Department to browbeat EU allies into turning against Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant.
If history is anything to go by, a new MAGA administration would not bode well for transatlantic ties.
