The New York Times reports:

The European Union, overcoming deep dissension among its members, gave the green light to a sweeping trade pact with four South American countries on Friday that would create one of the largest free-trade zones in the world, connecting markets with more than 700 million people.

The agreement offers a stark contrast to the amped-up aggression on display this week from the Trump administration. As Europe worked to extend an era of economic collaboration, the United States, its once-close ally, demonstrated that it preferred coercion over cooperation.

In Brussels, European leaders negotiated and revised rules to win agreement. Across the Atlantic, President Trump authorized military raids to oust Venezuela’s president and capture two tankers, as part of a plan to seize billions of dollars worth of Venezuelan oil. He then doubled down on threats to Colombia, Cuba and Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory.

To some degree, Mr. Trump’s confrontational approach and embrace of trade wars helped seal a deal between the 27-member European Union and four South American nations in the trade bloc known as Mercosur that had languished for a quarter-century.

Indeed, countries across the world have stepped up efforts in the past year to sign trade partnerships that do not include the United States.

Mr. Trump’s policies were helping “to create a world without America,” said Robert Z. Lawrence, a professor of international trade and investment at Harvard. And “it’s not only in trade,” he added. [Continue reading…]