Thread by @HankeVela

Brussels is watching amazed, as Trump destroys the US economy. "Nobody in the Commission thought that the US government would be this stupid and self-destructive," an EU official tells me. "That they would blow up their own country by letting ChatGPT make their trade policy." 🧵

EU officials are quietly preparing brutal countermeasures — but they’re in no rush.
Markets are doing the work for them. Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes: 📜📌

Trump’s chaos is collapsing the US markets faster than any EU retaliation could.
Inside the Commission and among EU governments, the mood is: Don't give Trump an excuse to blame this on others.

Since February, the S&P 500 has dropped 20%.
European officials believe Trump's trade chaos is backfiring — and see no reason to escalate while the damage grows organically.

Inside the Commission and among EU trade ministers, the mood is calm — almost mocking.
“We’ll just let them stew,” another senior official says.
“If Trump doesn’t blink by the end of the month, we’re ready to hit hard.” But for now? They'll watch him sweat.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck summed up the mood: “We're under no time pressure. The Americans are under pressure and are now in a position of weakness,” he said. “The damage can get even worse — that’s why we must act calmly, carefully, but decisively.”

Habeck also mocked Elon Musk’s call for a US-EU "zero-tariff" deal:
“It's sign of weakness and fear. If he has something to say, he should go to his President... Before we talk about zero tariffs, stop the nonsense and mess you just made in the last week.”