How Trump transformed Europe in just 100 days

EU Confidential

POLITICO

Politics, News Commentary, News

4.4 • 175 Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After 100 days of U.S. President Donald Trump’s shock and awe, is the EU still stuck in stunned paralysis — or does it finally have a plan? POLITICO trade reporter Camille Gijs, tech reporter Eliza Gkritsi, defense editor Jan Cienski and senior climate correspondent Karl Mathiesen join host Sarah Wheaton to unpack the EU’s response on multiple fronts. Plus, Max Griera and Aitor Hernández-Morales break down the controversy around the European People’s Party congress in Valencia — and the strange blackout that hit the Iberian Peninsula just as delegates were arriving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So here's my big takeaway about Trump.
0:06.1	It's all so fragile.
0:10.6	Guys, it's only been 100 days, and he's laid waste to 80 years of international order.
0:19.1	This is the best, they say,
0:21.1	a hundred-day start of any president in history,
0:23.8	and everyone is saying it.
0:25.2	We've just gotten started.
0:28.1	You haven't even seen anything yet.
0:29.8	It's all just kicking up.
0:32.9	The shock and awe is still reverberating around Europe.
0:41.5	It's not just the tariff blitz said to crash the global economy.
0:47.3	It's not just the Oval Office fits that put Putin over Ukraine and the rest of the Western alliance.
0:51.5	It's also the inexplicability of it all.
0:55.8	The U-turns and ramp-ups that make it impossible to figure out how to even give Trump what he wants. Whether you take Trump literally or seriously, it's clear he's
1:07.4	been moving fast and furiously. With more than 140 executive orders rattling allies at home and abroad,
1:14.9	here's our big question.
1:17.0	Is the EU still stuck in stunned paralysis?
1:20.3	Or does it finally have a plan?
1:25.0	I'm Sarah Wheaton, host of EU Confidential.
1:28.4	Today, we're digging into Trump's first 100 days, and how Brussels is adapting to a world where
1:33.7	Washington is no longer the grown-up in the room.
1:37.0	We'll also zoom in on Spain, where the political elite faced a harsh reminder that even
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