Europe races to prepare for Trump's comeback

The European Union is struggling to prepare for shock waves after Donald Trump won the United States presidential election on Tuesday in a historic comeback.

European leaders gathering in Budapest for the European Political Community meeting on Thursday and an informal EU summit on Friday spent much time discussing possible strategies to deal with the second Trump administration.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Trump was elected by US voters to defend their interests.

"The question we, as Europeans, must ask ourselves is, are we ready to defend the interests of Europeans?"

Many Europeans are disappointed by Trump's victory. An Infratest dimap poll for German public broadcaster ARD before the election showed that 74 percent of Germans supported Democratic candidate Kamala Harris whereas only 11 percent supported Trump.

Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, described the mood in the EU as "gloom and despair" after Trump's win.

For European leaders, many of whom have dealt with Trump during his first term, a major concern is Trump's campaign promise to impose across-the-board tariffs on goods going into the US.

Significant concern

The Federation of German Industries said in a statement on Thursday that Trump's tariff threat is "a significant concern for German industry".

Trump pulled out of the landmark Paris Agreement during his first term and many EU leaders worry that Trump, who promoted domestic fossil fuels during his campaign, might do it again to deal another blow to the global climate fight.

The biggest concern for many EU leaders is Trump's threat to cut US financial aid and military assistance to Ukraine and not defend NATO members who fail to meet spending targets.

Compared to Trump's first term, the EU has become more vulnerable as indicated in a recent EU competitiveness report by former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi. In the two largest EU economies, Macron was weakened at home after his party suffered a loss in elections while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition collapsed.

Many believe Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could play the role of EU interlocutors with Trump given their close relations.

Nicolai von Ondarza, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Europe has been preparing for the Trump II scenario in the past year.

"The problem is that they couldn't find convincing answers, so great is the dependency on the US," he wrote on X.