U.S. allies are sitting out Donald Trump's trade war with China

Imposition of new tariffs on nearly every country adds to concerns in Europe and Asia about relying on America

- Yaroslav Trofimov

America needs its allies and partners for what is shaping up as a protracted contest for geopolitical primacy now that President Trump has unleashed a trade war against China. They are in no rush to take sides.

Some 70 countries currently negotiating tariff relief with the U.S. should "approach China as a group" together with Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week. Other U.S. officials suggested joint efforts to starve China of modern technologies and trade opportunities.

The problem is, many European and Asian partners aren't sure to what extent they are still allied with Washington. Trump's initial "Liberation Day" order, after all, slapped them with sky-high tariffs that made no distinction between long-term adversaries and faithful allies.

The shock from this attack, partially reversed only as a result of a U.S. market rout, with additional exceptions quietly adopted on Friday, has added to months of concerns about how much Trump's America can be relied upon in an increasingly brutal world. That is especially so now that Trump has linked trade concessions to security cooperation.

Trump had outraged European leaders even before the new tariffs, with his embrace of Russia and arm-twisting of Ukraine, his claims on Greenland and Canada, and his description of the European Union as an organization designed to "screw us." Even after the partial suspension, these tariffs on the EU amount to $59 billion a year, said French President Emmanuel Macron. That is just below the $66.5 billion in U.S. military assistance to Ukraine over more than three years of war.

"Friends and allies and foes are being treated the same, with no respect, and everything has become a zero-sum game," said Jeppe Kofod, a former foreign minister of Denmark, which is refusing Trump's demands to surrender Greenland. "It's crazy time."