Donald Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine and impose tariffs on top US trading partners resonated around the world as Europe is trying to strengthen Kiev.
In an effort to step into the gap left by Washington, European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday proposed a 150 billion euro defence procurement loan package to the EU government, saying it could provide “instant” support to Ukraine.
The measure will put money into the EU defence industry rather than directly providing military aid to member state Kiev, whom Hungary has vowed to block.
The government and markets have also responded to other big decisions by Trump this week, imposing an additional 10% new tariff on imports from China and a 25% obligation on imports from Canada and Mexico.
On Tuesday, Beijing announced 10-15% measures against US agricultural products. Canada has also announced $100 billion tariffs on US imports.
As Mexico prepared its response, Asian and European markets have followed us fears about the wider economic impact of tariffs.
