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,

Europe is to be flooded with American cars and energy after Brussels struck an eleventh-hour trade deal with Donald Trump. Under the terms of a pact announced on Sunday, the European Union will face 15 per cent tariffs on exports to the US, staving off a full-blown trade war after months of negotiations.