Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen told members, it is “Time to build new independent Europe”.
The bloc recently signed a landmard trade deal with the South American members of Mercosur, and is grappling with new wrinkles in the traditional trans-Atlantic alliance.
President Von der Leyen described the many trade deals the EU is pursuing in addition to the Mercosur agreement, in a new era of US tariffs and protectionism. “Europe will always choose the world, and the world is ready to choose Europe,” she said.
“We’re choosing free trade over tariffs.”
