Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman of the nine-trillion-dollar asset management firm BlackRock, says Donald Trump’s reelection in 2024 could help the European Union learn to stand on its own feet.
Hildebrand made the remarks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos, Switzerland, when asked if he agreed with European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde that Trump is “clearly a threat” to the EU.
“Christine speaks for herself. I think the flip side of it is that this is perhaps also a wake-up call for Europe,” said Hildebrand, suggesting a second Trump administration might prompt the EU to decide whether it wants “to be a kind of independent sovereign” or to have “great dependencies, whether on China or on the U.S.”
“I see it as an opportunity for the construction of Europe,” he continued. “Clearly, if [Trump’s election] were to lead to a rupture, which I think is what President Lagarde has in mind as a risk, then that would challenge Europe fundamentally.”
He was particularly critical of the EU’s weakness in the field of defense, despite having a significantly larger combined economy and population than the U.S.
