When Donald Trump held up the chart claiming that the EU charged the US '39%' in tariffs, he did not restrain his contempt for the continent.
The EU was "very, very tough" when it came to trade policy.
"They rip us off, it’s so sad to say. It’s pathetic," he said.
President Trump implied that a 20% tariff on all EU imports was evidence that the US was, therefore, being charitable.
The 39% figure is mystifying.
In February, the European Commission said that "in practice" the average tariff rate on both sides was 1%.
"In 2023, the US collected approximately €7 billion of tariffs on EU exports, and the EU collected approximately €3 billion on US exports," the Commission said.
The 20% across the board tariff on all EU exports will hurt.
Mr Trump’s use of the word "pathetic" may or may not have been a deliberate echo of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s description of the Europeans in the notorious Signal chat scandal.
But the targeting of Europe once again by its erstwhile closest ally follows a litany of insults and threats, from President Trump’s determination to grab Greenland to JD Vance’s remarks in Munich that Europe was engaging in "civilisational suicide".
This latest assault on the transatlantic relationship has prompted many to assume that relationship is over.
"The geopolitical world has been turned upside down," ECB President Christine Lagarde said in UCD, where she was receiving an award.
"This landscape poses a serious challenge for Europe. Economically, it compounds existing issues like sluggish growth and weak competitiveness. Strategically this new environment could also heighten our security vulnerabilities," she added.
"We can no longer rely on the security arrangements that have stood in place since the Second World War."
The 20% tariffs will hit all of Europe’s export sectors, in particular the German automotive industry, already struggling from declining sales and competition on electric vehicles from China.
German MEP Bernd Lange, who heads the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, described ‘Liberation Day’ as "Inflation Day," warning that the tariffs would lead to a downward economic spiral for the US and the world as a whole.
"Because of this decision," he said in a statement, "US consumers will be forced to carry the heaviest burden in a trade war. These tariffs will only make processes and manufacturing more inefficient. They have prompted damaging uncertainty in the investment climate. Stock markets could hardly be clearer in their reactions."
Other sectors of the European economy were quick to respond.
Gabriel Picard, chair of the French wine and spirits exporters groups FEVS told BFM television that sales of French drinks would plummet by at least 20%.
The Association of the German Chemical Industry (VCI) urged the EU to "keep a cool head", warning that "a spiral of escalation would only increase the damage".
Italy’s hard right prime minister Giorgia Meloni, often seen as a potential bridge between the EU and the Trump Administration, said the tariffs were "wrong" but that she hoped to work with the US and EU to avoid a trade war.
So far, however, EU hopes that President Trump could be won round by flattery, an appeal to working things out through negotiation and even a promise to buy more American LNG - a proposal Mr Trump himself made - have been dashed.
A European Commission team working on a plan to buy more LNG met with declining interest from the White House. EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Secretary Jamieson Greer two weeks ago in Washington, but came away empty handed.
The EU is expected to take its time to respond. While economists differ on the virtues of retaliation, the EU has some strong instruments at its disposal, such as hitting Big Tech, intellectual property, banking as well as US goods.
However, the prevailing wisdom is that tough retaliation only makes sense politically, ie that you convince your opponent to change course before getting into negotiation.
President Trump appeared in no mood to do either at the Rose Garden.
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