The implication is that they really want to be enemies and say so openly.
I don't know about "enemies", but the EU was set up explicitly as an alternative market to the US. So, yes, they do want to compete with us and be better than us.
If the price of having "friends" is that we have a big difference in tariffs and trade balances, I think we could stand to have fewer friends.
Let’s keep in mind that this group of EU-oriented USA haters now includes a new member, the Vatican. This pope has blamed the US for every world “problem” including poverty, AGW, immigration, income “inequality,” private property, disease, etc. Not in vague terms either, but pointed, irrational, vitriolic talks by him and his men. He advocates marxist revolution by violence. Do not underestimate his influence, the Church has consciously joined the global left.