Briefing| A dangerous divorcée
If it comes to a stand-off, Europe has leverage over America
But pulling some of those levers would be so damaging as to make them unusable
An illustration of Uncle Sam leaving Lady Europa, who looks upset and frustrated.
Illustration: Harry Haysom
“THE ACTION that is needed has to be bold and determined,” declared Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, this week. She was talking about how the European Union should respond to Donald Trump’s habit of tearing up supposedly “ironclad commitments”, thereby threatening “European values”. “Extraordinary times,” she averred, “call for extraordinary measures.”