Less taxes, less bureaucracy, less government: political concepts that have found prominent supporters beyond the Republican party and US President Donald Trump. Even during the German federal election campaign, FDP leader Christian Lindner called for a bolder embrace of Musk and Milei. For Lindner, however, the connection to the super-deregulators turned out to be a bridge to nowhere. The FDP was voted out of the Bundestag, and he is leaving politics.

But the fervour for deregulation that has gripped the Trump administration continues to rage unchecked in Washington. More than 17 years ago, the financial sector demonstrated where oversimplified regulation leads: straight into a global financial crisis. But that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from breaking the shackles of the domestic financial industry. Rolling back Basel III is just one step in a broader deregulation offensive. While it’s unlikely that the EU will blindly follow suit, it’s enough that the European finance industry remains closely intertwined with a potentially far more unstable US financial system to throw it off balance. After all, that’s exactly what happened last time.

The US government is also taking an axe to regulations, agencies, and their employees in other areas. An unregulated environment is soon to become the norm. No surprise there: a US president who has no qualms about using hastily created meme coins to fleece his followers, or jumping into the ring as a car influencer for his biggest campaign donor, surely considers no rule off-limits.

And what applies domestically applies even more so internationally. The deal to which the current US government feels bound apparently has yet to be made. Even the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was renegotiated during Trump’s first term, has been swept aside. Free trade with Canada could resume, Trump says – but only if that „artificial line“ between the two countries disappears and the northern neighbour finally becomes the 51st US state. Trump skips the carrot entirely and goes straight for the stick. Quite a basis for negotiations...

Some analysts are still searching for a goal or strategy in Trump’s erratic path. Yet, there’s only one real lesson to be learned: if you tear down old bridges, you should know where the new ones will lead. Trump’s bridge, however, leads to nowhere. Attempting to rebuild it would be highly inadvisable.