I believe a reddit observation I have read is that Musk called for "zero tariffs with europe" and a response was "it was 1.4 to 1.5% on average between the US and EU before you blew this up"

Trump hasn't stated that goal. It's unclear he has a particular goal in mind other than "trade deficits bad, tariffs can fix trade deficits therefore tariffs good".

However - I do think it’s interesting how his over the top bravado is translated into stupidity by the media. Like he is all about shock and awe negotiating. He doesn’t mean everything he says or does in a direct way, much of it is for effect. When he drops massive tariffs on everyone at once, it’s intended to force people to the table to negotiate with an uncomfortable starting position for them.

Obviously there are side effects in the market, and it is kind of disrespectful in the current political culture, but I think it remains to be seen whether these will even be long term effects. If a few major countries capitulate in the next couple of weeks I think the market will probably catch its breath.

In this case trump probably feels that he has the leverage to achieve a net positive arrangement and not just a neutral one. If someone is treating you badly for a while, which is not objectively true about the EU necessarily but clearly trump thinks it, it’s normal human behavior to not settle for a draw unless you are the weaker party.

The media is almost doing him a favor in a way, like portraying him as being so crazy that he “just might do it”. They’re giving him a mad dog aura. Hmm.