The European Union's trade agreement with the Trump administration is receiving mixed reviews. EU officials claim they avoided a major economic disaster, but French officials argue the EU didn't leverage its full strength.

The European Union and the US have announced a political agreement that will completely reset the €1.7 trillion ($2 trillion) transatlantic trade relationship.

EU has long portrayed itself as an export superpower and champion of rules-based commerce for the benefit both of its own soft power and the global economy as a whole. For sure, the new tariff that will now be applied is a lot more digestible than the 30% "reciprocal" tariff which Trump threatened to invoke in a few days.