Europe must pile pressure on Trump over tariffs, Germany’s Habeck urges – POLITICO

BERLIN — Germany’s outgoing Economy Minister Robert Habeck launched a blistering attack Thursday on U.S. President Donald Trump’s new global tariff regime — and is calling on Europe and like-minded partners to form new trade alliances in response.

“The logical consequence is: then he needs to feel the pressure,” Habeck said in Berlin, adding that Trump “only folds when he’s under pressure.” He called the new tariffs — a blanket 10 percent levy on all U.S. imports and much steeper rates for dozens of countries — “the most disruptive tariff hike in 90 years.”

“This was a day of arbitrariness,” Habeck said. “And that will prove true in many ways — the consequences could be dramatic.”