The EU gives disposable cell phones to officials stationed in the US to prevent them from being spied on.

BrusselsThe distrust of the European Union with respect to the United States Donald Trump's attacks are on the rise. The European Commission will now issue basic cell phones and computers to officials posted to US territory or traveling temporarily because they fear US intelligence services will spy on them, according to the newspaper Financial Times.

This is yet another symptom of how relations with the two main Western allies have deteriorated since Trump returned to the White House. Until now, the EU executive only applied this policy to workers at European institutions who travel to China, which it considers a "systemic rival," or to Ukraine, where they believe it is easier for the intelligence services of Vladimir Putin's regime to spy on them while they share highly sensitive information.

Although the European Union's relations with the United States are much better than those it maintains with China or Russia, Brussels is in the midst of a trade war with Washington and has long been preparing to counter the potential new tariffs that Trump threatens to apply. Among others, the European Commission has already opened the door to attack big US tech or exclude US companies from public procurement processes for EU public administrations. However, the European Commission is currently denying the ARA the information it has published. Financial Times, Although he admits that he has changed the recommendations for officials regarding travel.

In any case, the new internal European Union regulations will not yet have affected the trip of the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, who met with US counterparts in Washington to negotiate the tariff offensive launched by the Trump administration against the European bloc. In fact, this Monday marks the third time he has met with Trump administration officials in the US capital since the start of the trade war.

Thus, the first time the European commissioners and senior officials of the European Commission will have to follow these new orders will be in the meetings they will hold next week with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The Economic Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis; the head of Financial Services, Maria Luís Albuquerque; and the head of the International Partnerships portfolio, Jozef Síkela, are expected to travel to Washington.