This article draws upon the wide-ranging conversation featured in a recent episode of CEA Talk, the podcast series of CEA Magazine, where I had the privilege of speaking with two prominent policy experts: Egle Markevičiūtė, Head of Digital & Innovation Policy at the Consumer Choice Center and former Deputy Minister of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania, and Yaël Ossowski, Deputy Director of the Consumer Choice Center. The dialogue was anchored around the CCC’s timely policy paper, “A Consumer-Focused Alternative: Reshoring Atlanticism in the Age of Uncertainty”, and unpacked the stakes, risks, and paths forward for transatlantic economic relations.
Tariff Wars and Economic Nationalism
The resurgence of trade protectionism under the renewed Trump administration, including the imposition of a 25% tariff on imported vehicles and parts, has reignited long-standing tensions between the US and its European allies. For Ossowski, this marks not just a policy maneuver, but a systemic shift with historical echoes: “We’re back to the 1930s-style tariff logic,” he said, referring to policies that exacerbated the Great Depression. Markevičiūtė echoed this concern, warning that retaliatory tariffs, even when delayed or softened by diplomacy, ultimately rebound on consumers.
The EU’s measured response—delaying its planned retaliatory tariffs—was framed as a rational, consumer-protective strategy. However, both speakers acknowledged that unless a broader structural dialogue is reinitiated, such as through a revitalized Trade and Technology Council (TTC), we risk entrenching a cycle of reactionary policymaking.
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