The coming vote for Europe’s soul

WHEN US President Donald Trump unveiled his famous “reciprocal tariff” scorecard in April 2025, most of the commentary focused on the sheer scale of the levies that he was imposing on the rest of the world.

But, more shocking was the extent to which the tariffs discriminated by country – a flagrant violation of the very first article of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), the precursor to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

It is this principle – now enshrined in the WTO’s most-favoured-nation clause – that underpins the entire global trading system, and it must guide European lawmakers in the coming weeks, when they decide whether to ratify the trade agreement reached between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in 2025.