French finance minister calls Trump's trade war 'idiotic', plans US trip

I think talking to counterparts means talking to those, apart from trump who have some influence but might also be level headed. I assume they will all be pushed out over time for loyalists but there are likely still rational actors. Somewhere.

Another problem is that talking to Trump is infuriating in and of itself.

"We need to talk to the Americans to bring the tension back down," Lombard told the France 2 television channel.

I think that if talking to Trump were going to change things, it would have already happened. There have been plenty of people in the US government that have said that this isn't a good idea.

It is idiotic. But at least it has woken up Europe