At the G7 summit in Evian last week, the leaders issued their first joint declaration since President Donald Trump returned to office, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it “a real success.”

After a year of trade friction, a drawdown of American troops from Germany, and open strain between the two men, the change in tone was itself the news. But a communique does not hold an industrial base in place. The harder question, the one Trump and Merz left Evian without answering, is what economic architecture replaces the bargain that is clearly ending, the one in which America underwrote Europe’s choices without asking for partnership in return.