Trump’s tariff war is imminent, Macron and Draghi warn Europe

The Trump administration “will continue to protect [its interests] at the risk of dismantling value chains between Europeans and Americans,” Macron warned, while urging Brussels to take action with a more aggressive trade policy of its own, building on the example of recent EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

“Trump’s election is a moment of acceleration. The longer we wait, the more we will face dilemmas that are impossible to solve,” he warned.

Speaking at the storied college, which was founded in 1530 by King François I, the Franco-Italian duo lost no opportunity to flaunt their friendship, with Macron publicly celebrating Draghi’s leadership and the two delivering carefully aligned messages on what Europe should do.

In particular, they both criticized the EU’s current economic doctrine, saying leaders should find the courage to invest more in strategic sectors and to create a real capital markets union to fund disruptive technologies.

While criticizing U.S. protectionism, the two repeatedly compared Europe to the U.S. and urged Brussels to take inspiration from Washington, especially on directing private capital toward strategic sectors. Europe should catch up with the U.S. by boosting funding for innovative companies via capital markets instead of bank loans, they said.

“Banks are not good at all at financing innovation,” as Draghi put it.

While deploring EU red tape, a stance that previously earned him the praise of U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, Draghi said Brussels should “get rid of [the] useless regulation” that is pushing companies, especially in the tech sector, to quit Europe.