Europe weathers US defence, trade shocks

Good morning. My name is Angela Skujins, and I am steering the Europe Today newsletter on this rainy Tuesday from Brussels.

Much of the major news seems to be occurring outside the Belgian capital today, with the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, meeting US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Paris for closely watched talks.

The high-stakes catch-up follows fresh tariff threats from US President Donald Trump on European cars and car parts. On Friday the Republican leader threatened up to 25% in import levies on European automobiles.

French MEP Aurore Lalucq, who chairs the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee, told Peggy Corlin and Eleonora Vasques that the EU-US trade deal in Scotland last summer should not have been inked. The current US administration “cannot be trusted,” she said.

The politician’s position reflects opposition to the agreement among several lawmakers within the European Parliament’s second-largest political group, the Socialists and Democrats. Other elected officials have taken a less confrontational stance due to their countries’ relationship with the US economy, fearing retaliation.

But the trade tiff is far from over, with a round of negotiations between EU countries and MEPs scheduled for Wednesday.

As Brussels attempts to come to terms with the trade spat, question marks remain regarding an announcement of American troop reductions in Germany.

Just in: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) Martin O’Donnell told Europe Today the withdrawal of thousands of American soldiers at the behest of Trump shouldn’t impact the alliance’s defence posture.Watch.

“Europe has been moving to make itself stronger for some time,” he said.

“From our NATO deterrence plans, this doesn’t change anything. We will still be able to deter and defend all NATO territory.”

Meanwhile, in Yerevan, the first-ever EU-Armenia summit is underway. The meeting follows Monday’s European Political Community (EPC) format, which boasted a guest list of almost 50 heads of state in the Armenian capital.

As is always the case with the EPC, the summit did not produce any binding decisions or collective agreements. Instead, leaders devoted most of their time to holding bilateral and trilateral meetings on the sidelines, Jorge Liboreiro reports.

The main attraction was Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who made sure to position himself as a counterweight to Trump by praising multilateralism. His overture was warmly welcomed. After all, both Canada and Europe have been at the receiving end of Trump’s tariff and annexationist threats.

“It’s my strong personal view that the international order will be rebuilt, but it will be rebuilt out of Europe. And so I’m very appreciative of the symbolism of this invitation,” Carney told the room.

For the most part, the EPC was all smiles, handshakes and pats on the back.

But at one point during the morning session things became prickly between Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, and the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. More on that tense exchange below.

For a breakdown from Jorge on the six takeaways from the EPC in Armenia, read here. For additional analysis on the presence of one guest in particular, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sasha Vakulina has the scoop.

Roberta Metsola clashes with Azerbaijan’s Aliyev at European summit in Armenia

Tensions flared on Monday between Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola at the EPC in Yerevan, when Aliyev accused the European Parliament of “spreading slander and lies” about his country.

As Vincenzo Genovese explains, Metsola asked to take the floor in an impromptu intervention to offer a swift rebuttal. “We will never change the way we work,” she said about the parliamentary body, adding “even if it is uncomfortable”.

Prior to her intervention, Aliyev also claimed members of the European Parliament act as though they want to “sabotage” the peace process with Armenia brokered by the US last year, setting a diplomatic and economic framework after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The accord put an end to nearly four decades of armed tension. Read more.

EU moves to ban high-risk inverters from China over cybersecurity threats

The European Commission will gradually eliminate the use of Chinese-made intverters in EU-funded energy projects. The move represents a major step aimed at protecting critical energy infrastructure from possible cyber threats that could trigger power outages.

Reporting by Marta Pacheco reveals the announcement follows warnings from analysts that Europe’s reliance on Chinese-made solar inverters — produced by firms like Huawei and Sungrow — could pose risks to the bloc’s power grid stability, especially as Europe relies more on renewable energy such as solar and wind.

“We have identified serious economic and cybersecurity risks,” an EU official speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters on Monday, noting that the Commission’s assessment drew on both classified and non-classified evidence provided by multiple member states.

The findings indicated that certain countries could, in a worst-case scenario, undermine European energy infrastructure, potentially even triggering blackouts, the EU official said, referring to China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. Read more.

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Russia unilaterally declares Victory Day ceasefire while Zelenskyy tables own truce

Moscow has declared a unilateral ceasefire with Ukraine from 8 to 9 May, when Russia marks its annual World War II Victory Day commemorations and threatened a “massive missile strike” on Kyiv if Ukraine violated the ceasefire. Gavin has the latest on the announcement.

We’re also keeping an eye on

European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will attend the EU-Armenia Summit in Yerevan, Armenia.
EU economic and finance ministers will convene in Brussels for a meeting centring on financial affairs. The agenda will partly focus on fighting value added tax fraud across the continent.

That’s it for today. Peggy Corlin, Eleonora Vasques, Jorge Liboreiro, Marta Pacheco and Vincenzo Genovese contributed to this newsletter.

Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter incorrectly attributed a post on X. It was Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk who posted about European-American friendship at the EPC on social media.

Read the full article here