With everything he said on the campaign trail, it was inevitable that the relationship between President-elect Donald Trump and the European Union would start off on the wrong foot. But if Trump appreciates that the liberal democracies of Europe are still the best friends that America has in the world, he has to make amends. There’s still time.

Within hours of his election, a stern statement came from the German chancellor Angela Merkel, who offered Trump close cooperation on the basis of “values of democracy, freedom and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views,” implicitly referring to the president-elect’s shocking campaign rhetoric.