Whoever is elected, Europe’s on its own

Whatever the result of the US elections in just over two weeks, it is already clear that the European Union will have to move swiftly to reinforce its defense and trade, and to deal with the climate crisis. Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris is elected president, the EU will face serious problems in these crucial sectors, with only the degree of difficulty differing on the basis of who is elected president and who controls the two houses of Congress. If Trump wins, he will stop supporting Ukraine and will weaken defense ties with European countries. If he persists in seeing the EU as a competitor, the United States will impose tariffs on European products, disrupting the largest trade relationship in the world (worth some 1.3 trillion dollars annually, with the balance favoring the EU by 131 billion in 2022). On the climate, the former president says that he will pull the US out...