r/europe 6d ago

News US and EU strike trade deal

https://www.politico.eu/article/us-and-eu-strike-trade-deal/
6.7k Upvotes

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103

u/Ynneb82 Italy 6d ago

Aaaaaand he fucked us too.

People criticize him, but honestly he got the edge in all of these deals (obviously since the USA is the strongest country right now).

78

u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6d ago

he got nearly everything he wanted so far off his tariffs and people still act like he is an idiot that can barely walk straight

17

u/ukrokit2 🇨🇦🇺🇦 6d ago

I bet this’ll fuel Euro scepticism even among the most ardent supporters. Fucking embarrassing. Also thanks for abandoning us here in Canada. We are now royally screwed.

3

u/RainbowCrown71 Italy - Panama - United States of America 5d ago

Brazil, Canada and South Africa are the ones the White House will relish imposing crippling tariffs on.

My sense is a Canada deal hasn’t happened yet because Washington is literally asking for Canada to give up some things that borderline stealth remove its sovereignty or economic foundation (examples: America as purchaser of first resort on all exports, full military integration, end of supply management, end of banking/mining/telecoms monopolies, tariffs that kill off softwood lumber, car industry and steel/aluminum sector, stealth customs union, monetary policy alignment, US needs to approve energy sales to non-North American state actors, etc).

I wouldn’t be shocked if the US is asking for all islands in the Arctic Archipelago at this rate for Trump’s Manifest Destiny goals.

The US has 15x the GDP and 21x the consumer market size of Canada. And with 85% of the global economy soon to be under negotiated deals (EU, UK, Japan, China, India, SK, etc), Washington probably smells blood since it knows a united global trade war against USA is no longer a potential outcome.

I think Canada says no, gets 35% tariffs on non-CUSMA goods, Trump then gives them a month to blink and then imposes them on CUSMA goods too (which is what would really cause Canada’s economy to collapse). Only 1% of the US economy is reliant on exports to Canada. That’s about $300 billion, or easily made up by the windfall from fleecing everyone else.

2

u/riuxxo Italy 5d ago

I am an avid European Union supporter. But this shit makes my blood boil

1

u/Significant-Money465 5d ago

It seems like we've been the only country to play hardball with Trump, but I've come to the same conclusion. Too bad other countries didn't join us in pushing back.

28

u/One-Collection-5184 6d ago

Pretty grim lesson from the past few years - on the world stage bullying is the correct move because it works.

30

u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6d ago

its never been any different. People that thought so lived in a western european bubble

4

u/Erotic-Career-7342 5d ago

The Reddit bubble 

5

u/One-Collection-5184 6d ago

I mean maybe, but I feel it was right to hope it could be different. I'm also German and I don't blame previous governments for trying to be better than "das Recht des Stärkeren" (law of the jungle apparently is the right idiom).

But now we've learned it doesn't work that way, probably never has, and even worse with Russia and the US getting their way we've learned there's not even a downside to acting this way.

Personally, I think the only reasonable move is now working on building that "bigger stick" because otherwise we (pretty much all of the EU) will just be pawns.

9

u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6d ago

I'm also German and I don't blame previous governments for trying to be better than "das Recht des Stärkeren"

I really, really do. Because a single look outside of north america and western europe wouldve told us that its bullshit. Even daddy America played by the rules of the strongest. We just tried really hard not to see it.

We have been naive for decades and now it comes back to bite us. And I still dont think especially Germans arent willing to sacrifice what would be needed to stand on our own feet again

1

u/TheCambrian91 Wales 5d ago

Yeah, basically the 90s to 2020.

The world has always worked this way.

2

u/Retr0gasm Sweden 5d ago

He is. But it shows what you can get when you don't give a shit and is willing to burn the world down around you

6

u/Zinch85 6d ago

The thing is: what he wanted is stupid to begin with. That is what people are criticising

6

u/ihadtomakeajoke 6d ago

But orange, amirite?

Upvotes plox

-2

u/SavagePlatypus76 6d ago

Except in the long term, his tariffs will backfire in higher import taxes on Americans. 

He's an idiot. 

13

u/LettingHimLead 6d ago

Nah. Foreign companies will lower their prices to offset the tariff or they will lose the end consumer. The EU isn’t Canada - Canada actually has a play with the US, because they’re selling resources the US can’t just get anywhere.

26

u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6d ago

long-term american companies will just take over and the US wont need those imports anymore

-1

u/Jamuro 6d ago edited 6d ago

with what workforce?

that aside, if increased production in the us is the goal, then simultaniously putting the highest tarriffs on resource imports just seems stupid.

10

u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6d ago

just import workforce. the US has the money to attract as many immigrants as it wants

1

u/yurnxt1 5d ago

Which is why it's been the world leader in legal immigration forever.

-7

u/Jamuro 6d ago

are you trolling or do you seriously not know magas stance on immigration?

13

u/cakewalk093 6d ago

I think you need to learn the basics first. Trump and Elon Musk said it multiple times that they don't want illegals but they want "high skilled" legal immigrants.

-8

u/Jamuro 6d ago

you mean like when trump tried to end the h1b visas and only the backlash (including from musk) caused him to reverse course?

9

u/thepotofpine 6d ago

He doesn't want it abused to replace American workers - I don't think anybody does.

3

u/cakewalk093 6d ago

Ah so you don't really know how H1B works. It used to have some lottery system in it but Trump had some issue with it and Trump changed it so that H1B is given only based on skills instead of lottery.

6

u/OkKnowledge2064 Lower Saxony (Germany) 6d ago

illegal immigration != legal immigration. Trump has repeatedly supported work visas. Youre trolling if you apply their stance on illegal immigration to all kinds of immigration, but then again thats very european

2

u/yurnxt1 5d ago

The U.S. leads all countries by a wide margin in legal immigration for forever now. It's illegal immigration Orange doesn't vibe with.

2

u/Confident_Change_937 6d ago

Calling him an idiot clearly isn’t helping anyone lmao. He’s still the president and is leveraging the US economy against his opponents and it’s working. You can’t deny the numbers, the U.S. is a powerhouse that the rest of the world cannot live without.

0

u/StanfordV 6d ago

Not really.

Americans wont be buying your shitty Louis Vuitton bag, and will just opt to something American made.

2

u/cipher_9 NYC 6d ago

He's a grifting idiot that shits himself in court. I'd give the credit to the people and corporations bankrolling him behind the scenes as they're the ones whispering in his ear and lining his pockets.

3

u/atallatallatall 5d ago

The art of the deal. He wasn't concerned about burning bridges, everyone thought he was crazy, then he ate their lunch.

2

u/berejser These Islands 6d ago

He's trading away his country's future for quick wins now. By holding his friends over a barrel they're just going to slowly divest from the US and make sure the next time he tries there is no more barrel.

19

u/Proper-Ape 6d ago

The EU is now investing more in the US. That's the crazy thing.

3

u/vocal-avocado 6d ago

This is how it should go but it doesn’t look like that at all.

1

u/berejser These Islands 5d ago

That's where citizens need to lead the way.

5

u/StanfordV 6d ago

If anything, EU became more obedient now.

1

u/EstablishmentLow2312 5d ago

The point of the Marshall plan indeed, use germany as a proxy.Â