Bloomberg Surveillance · Thursday, September 24, 2026
Michael Froman observes that while other countries, like the UK and the EU, are pursuing trade integration and agreements, the U.S. under President Trump has increasingly used tariffs as a tool. He predicts that European countries may also adopt more protectionist measures due to pressure from Chinese imports.
“Look, I think there are really two different dynamics at play at the moment. Other countries are continuing to pursue trade and integration. So the U.K. Joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP. The Europeans are thinking about having some relationship with TPP. The Europeans have negotiated trade agreements with a lot of other countries that have been longstanding negotiations, Brazil, India, elsewhere. Africa has a continental wide free trade agreement. Fifty four countries who who would have thought they would have opened their economies to each other in the way that they have. The U.S., on the other hand, has raised the issue and the President Trump in particular. But it was continued during the Biden administration of tariffs being an important tool. Other countries, I believe, are responding to that, particularly with regard to China and China's overcapacity and its export led growth model. So while the Europeans, I think, are ideologically more committed to free trade than the U.S. has ever been, they're seeing their own auto sector, their own manufacturing sector under serious pressure from Chinese imports. My guess is we're going to see more protectionism there as well.”