Europe weighs response to latest Trump tariffs as JD Vance arrives in Paris for AI summit – Europe live European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has just responded to US tariffs on aluminium and steel announced overnight, saying the bloc will respond with “firm and proportionate countermeasures.".
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron will meet with US vice-president JD Vance today, on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris.
US president Donald Trump has overnight confirmed his plan to impose tariffs on all aluminium and steel imports from everywhere in the world, including Europe.
French Mistral AI’s Le Chat has offered me a rather bland “European Commission officials on a working trip to Brugge” type of response (also making me think of the “let’s do away with computers” scene from the brilliant British TV series the Thick of It).
“Instead of reacting defensively, we should go on the offensive,” it said, adding that we should also retaliate with expansive tariffs but suspend their application to “leave uncertainty hanging over US businesses” and essentially scare Trump into submission.
