The world’s major trading blocs are no longer waiting for American leadership. They are actively moving past it. With new tariffs looming and old alliances fraying, Europe and its partners are finalizing a network of deals designed to replace—rather than repair—what once existed.
Since early 2025, the EU has pursued deeper partnerships across nearly every continent. Recent agreements with Canada and Indonesia are already reshaping supply chains, and negotiations are advancing with India, South Africa, and a group of Latin American nations. Even post-Brexit Britain is being drawn back toward Brussels, a notable shift after years of economic separation.
Officials involved in the process describe a growing sense of urgency. The EU is now seeking to create a trading framework that excludes both the U.S. and China, whose policy unpredictability and overproduction pressures have destabilized markets. In its place, a coalition of mid-sized economies—Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and others—is emerging as the nucleus of a more balanced, rules-based trade system.
Countries threatened by U.S. tariffs are already seeing results from these new ties. In Indonesia, for example, officials have indicated that the deal with the EU could eliminate most tariffs, offering a critical outlet for export industries ranging from copper and steel to textiles. Local economists estimate that these agreements could prevent widespread job losses caused by reduced access to the U.S. market.
Analysts believe the next stage may involve greater coordination among affected countries. While most responses so far have been bilateral, there is growing discussion of collective action—aligning policies and even retaliatory measures to present a unified front against erratic U.S. behavior. Experts say such coordination would mark a major strategic shift, giving smaller economies leverage they could not achieve alone.
In the background, the economic structure that dominated the postwar era is quietly breaking apart. For decades, the U.S. served as both enforcer and beneficiary of the global trade system. That role is now in question.
As one trade policy expert in Brussels observed, the logic of today’s negotiations has flipped: the goal is no longer to gain better access to the American market, but to build a system resilient enough to do without it.
What began as a reaction to tariffs is becoming something much more permanent. A new global trade map is being drawn—this time with the United States at the margins.