The United States and the European Union agreed on a framework trade deal to end months of uncertainty for industries and consumers.

But the worst-case scenarios were so bad that Europe’s trade negotiators gave up on returning to anything close to those halcyon days. Over the past few months Mr Trump, convinced that the EU was ripping off his countrymen,

France and Germany have warned about the economic fallout from the 15 percent tariffs European goods face in the U.S.