US President Donald Trump’s barrage of economic policies is a “real, genuine fundamental wake-up call” that is forcing Europe to address its competitiveness problem, according to the chief executive of the region’s biggest stock exchange operator.
Stéphane Boujnah, head of Paris-based Euronext, said that recent reports from Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta on competitiveness and the future of the single market, “combined with the shock created by the initial decisions announced by the Trump administration”, had led European policymakers to address “the structural weaknesses in Europe”.
Trump has launched a blitz of policies in his first month in office — including tariffs against the US’s biggest trading partners — in staunch support of American businesses and jobs. His moves have left European policymakers rushing to protect the bloc and catch up at a time of stagnant economic growth.
“Things will change [but] like everything in Europe it might take longer,” Boujnah added.
Trump’s policies mean the valuation gap between US and European assets “is not justified”, he said. Fund managers were “in the process of connecting [the] dots” when it came to the impact of Washington’s new economic approach, Boujnah added, and have been pouring money into the continent’s undervalued markets.
“If you restrict immigration, if you increase tariffs, if you reduce taxation and if you increase spending, at some point of time gravity leads to additional inflation,” said Boujnah, who has led Euronext since 2015 and previously worked as an M&A banker.
The pan-continental Euro Stoxx 600 index has risen 8 per cent so far this year, outstripping the S&P 500 which has gained 3.5 per cent.
“The US is perceived as being overvalued in many segments and Europe is perceived as being undervalued,” he said, adding that global asset managers were focusing on Europe “to capture undervalued growing assets”.
He was speaking as Euronext reported €1.6bn in revenues for 2024, a 10 per cent increase on the previous year. The company runs stock exchanges in Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, among other cities, and reported a 5 per cent rise in revenues from initial public offerings.
On Thursday, Unilever said its ice-cream business would have a primary listing in Amsterdam rather than London, and Boujnah said the company had faced “very strong pressure coming from all over the world to consider alternatives”.