Inside Trump’s 72-hour EU trade whiplash

President Donald Trump stunned European officials and caught some of his own senior advisers off guard with his snap decision Friday to reignite his market-rattling trade war with the European Union.

President Donald Trump stunned European officials and caught some of his own senior advisers off guard with his snap decision Friday to reignite his market-rattling trade war with the European Union. Three days later, he got exactly what he wanted. “I have just been informed that the E.U. has called to quickly establish meeting dates,” Trump posted Tuesday on his Truth Social account, calling it a “positive event.” The journey from Trump’s threat to slap 50% tariffs on EU imports – to his pause on that threat Sunday – reshapes the process for trade negotiations that had become a growing irritant inside the White House, according to two people familiar with the matter. There was agreement among Trump administration officials that the EU trade talks needed to be shaken up. What, exactly, that would entail and when it was coming was Trump’s domain. “We expected it,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNN of Trump’s broadside. “In the end, the president makes up his mind and he’s got a lot of stuff on his plate.”