The EU’s strategy is to speak with one voice as the US president uses the threat of steep tariff hikes to try to persuade countries, like Switzerland , to sign bilateral trade deals that would be advantageous to America.

Trump exited Barack Obama’s negotiations to found the Indo-Pacific bloc to counter China in one of his first moves after his first inauguration in 2017. But as the president’s full-blown trade war hits America’s allies today, the 27-nation EU is now looking to diversify its trading relationships.

The deal covers just five pages of text providing only the outline of an agreement that was pulled together in just six weeks following US President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs announcement on April 2.