Europe Sends Biden a Reminder of Why Transatlantic Ties Matter

The EU’s deadpan trade chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, can take the drama out of talks with the U.S.

Valdis Dombrovskis will certainly mark a change from his predecessor.Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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At the tail end of the Cold War, on the westernmost tip of the Soviet Union, Valdis Dombrovskis sat in his home in Riga and tried to tune in to Voice of America.

The station jumped all over the radio dial as broadcasters played cat and mouse with the Soviet censors trying to jam their signal, but the kid who would grow up to become the European Union’s trade chief kept chasing it. He knew the propaganda. He wanted to hear what the U.S. had to say for itself.