For a long time, European heads of state like Macron, Merz and Meloni tried to flatter Trump. Now they are pulling on different strings.
May 5, 2026, 6:41 a.m05/05/2026, 06:42
Donald Trump doesn’t like the European Union. He once claimed that the EU was founded to “screw” the US. The Europeans, for their part, belittled themselves and flattered him, calling him “daddy” or a “great teacher.”
Until they didn’t this spring. The European heads of state handed out all at once. But then Trump hit back again. First rhetorically. Then with the withdrawal of soldiers from Germany. Then with new tariffs. The escalation spiral continues – and no one can escape the consequences.
Trump was still fond of the German Chancellor: Merz during his visit to the White House at the beginning of March.Image: keystone
It started with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He found the first trade deal that he had to conclude with Trump “historic, fantastic”. In April, the same Starmer said he was “fed up” with the British cost of living going up and down because of Trump. When Starmer didn’t want to help Trump with the Iran war, Trump threatened, “We gave them a good trade deal – that can change at any time” and Starmer replied:
“I won’t give in.”
Keir Starmer was submissive to Trump. He doesn’t feel like doing that anymore.Image: keystone
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni followed. She was considered Trump’s “whisperer,” and he called her a “beautiful young woman.” Most recently, however, she found him “unacceptable” when he said of Pope Leo that he was “not a fan of him” and “weak in the fight against crime.” The Pope, in turn, considered Trump “unacceptable” when he threatened to destroy Iranian civilization. Trump had the last word: Meloni himself was unacceptable.
Even Giorgia Meloni criticized Trump.Image: keystone
Emmanuel Macron appears at an event in Greece in April. The French president warned that Trump was just as anti-European as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is a “unique moment” and Europe must wake up:
“A US president, a Russian president and a Chinese president are completely against the Europeans.”
Emmanuel Macron has been taunting Trump for a long time.Image: keystone
Trump couldn’t let that go
And intentional or not, slip of the tongue or not, the German Chancellor also expressed clear criticism. Friedrich Merz said last week that the United States went into the Iran war “obviously without any strategy.” Now they are being led by the nose by Iran in the negotiations. Merz literally said in apparent indifference to Trump’s feelings: “An entire nation is being humiliated.”
Above all, Trump, who was always keen on dominance, could not let the word “humiliation” sit with him. Merz “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” and it’s “no wonder Germany is doing so badly.” That wasn’t enough for Trump. He took out the toll hammer. And he announced that he would withdraw 5,000 soldiers from Germany.
On his own platform, he justified the tariff increase by saying that the EU was not sticking to the trade deal. He will therefore increase tariffs on cars from the EU to 25 percent next week. What he didn’t say, but it was obvious: these tariffs hit the German auto industry hardest, which, according to the Ifo economic institute, “can’t get out of the crisis” anyway. This seemed to satisfy Trump’s need for dominance for the time being. Since then, he has taken his anger out elsewhere and called political opponents at home, for example, “scum” or “a person with a low IQ”. Merz, on the other hand, is not Trump and has not escalated further so far.
The new tariffs are damaging in their own right, but more importantly they continue far more damaging trends. The tariff will cause “substantial damage” to the European auto industry, writes the Kiel Institute. German car manufacturers would lose up to 15 billion euros as a result of the tariffs, and even 30 billion in the longer term. In Switzerland, the consequences for the entire economy are likely to be “limited,” says Hans Gersbach, co-director of the KOF Institute. However, due to a weaker German automotive industry, Swiss suppliers would also be affected, Gersbach continued. It is by no means a major shock for Swiss industry, but it certainly comes at an inconvenient time in the midst of its ongoing crisis and the Iran war.
It seems like a shock of uncertainty
It will be a greater burden if the EU strikes back, Trump has to dominate again, he further increases US tariffs and a tariff war finally breaks out. And even if the tariff war doesn’t happen initially, the fear of it increasing if Merz hits Trump and Trump hits Merz.
Companies don’t know whether or not to invest, whether to lay off or hire employees, when their prospects change with every Trump tantrum. This seems like a shock of uncertainty.
There is also a trend going on that is known as “de-risking”. Accordingly, economic relationships can no longer just be about costs. Safety is a priority. And it is less efficient, i.e. it costs money. This means rising prices for all kinds of goods and services – including in Switzerland.
Voters don’t like to hear that. But many European heads of state no longer see any other choice. Not when economic relations become tools of blackmail, when Trump threatens to impose tariffs or withdraw troops whenever they don’t do what he wants. Not if, according to Macron, Europe has to raise a question mark as to whether the USA still shows solidarity in defense and security. “We are currently feeling the consequences of our excessive dependence on the USA.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)