Trump vows to slap 25% tariffs on EU and claims bloc was ‘formed to screw US’
Trump vows to slap 25% tariffs on EU and claims bloc was ‘formed to screw US’
EU said it will reply ‘firmly and immediately’ to ‘unjustified’ trade barriers, signaling it’s ready to retaliate against levies
Summary
Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union, claiming the bloc was “formed to screw the United States.”
While details are pending, he suggested the levies would target cars and other imports. The EU, a major U.S. trading partner, has vowed immediate retaliation, with potential tariffs impacting $29.3 billion in exports.
French President Emmanuel Macron had attempted to dissuade Trump, urging focus on China instead.
Critics, including economists and conservative media, warn the tariffs could harm the U.S. economy.
Surely this will lower egg prices!
This is all done in the name of citizen consumers right? Trying to make life better for the good folks that voted for him?
Do you really think Krasnov cares now that he is king?
Inb4 EU and Canada signs a great trade deal just to screw over Trump.
He already blinked on the Canada tariffs. Put it off another month. We didn't even pretend to do anything to appease him this time.
I don't see that he's put it off. He's all over the place about it, as usual, but it's still a possibility.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/tariffs-update-march-4-1.7468442
As an American, I agree. They should.
We already have a good deal. CETA just need to be taken advantage of
As EU citizen, I don't think that's a good deal for us, as we are importing food that do not match our environmental criterias. It's anti-concurrential for inside food producers that have to conform these environmental laws. It would have been good if the deal was to import things that were produced respecting our laws (no offense).
Time for Ukraine to join the EU quickly. Tariff his precious minerals.
Orange fuckwit.
I still hope Zelenskyy is coming here Friday to announce that they decided to take the deal from Germany, and Zelenskyy ends the press conference with a double bird for Trump. It won’t happen but man I would love Zelenskyy even more if he did.
You never know, he just might
He's not completely wrong. One of the benefits EU provides is better bargaining power for its members against countries like the US.
Sanctions or tariffs on any individual EU country would likely lead to collective response.
He is completely wrong. The EU was formed after WW2 to prevent another war on the continent and to increase economic cooperation. The fact that makes us a much stronger block for negotiating trade deals was a side benefit, not its purpose. And it only works to screw over countries that are trying to screw us first.
Almost like a certain military alliance this asshole wants out of. Hmmm...
Maybe replace them with Ukraine. I here they have great drone technology.
2 sides to that coin. You also only need presence/trade deal once and you've access to a very large market as a whole all at once. In the end, everyone loses with throttled trade for no other reason than "I don't like them!!" Transatlantic trade has been very beneficial for both sides of the pond for many many decades...
Country that has been screwing every other country for 80 plus years accuses other countries of screwing it.
And with a tarrif, shows who is screwing who.
The EU was formed to screw the US... THE EU WAS FORMED TO SCREW THE US?! Bruh dude is possibly channeling Hitler and Stalin simultaneously. That's the only thing that makes sense. Or he's terminally dumb. One of the two.
Definitely channeling Putin.
I think it's both
Well, his definition of "screw over" is probably when the other side of a negotiation pools resources to be able to negotiate in a balanced way.
In that mindset, workers make Unions to "screw over" big companies.
Because that's essentially what the EU is: a polling of resources of many small and a few mid-sized countries to on Internation Trade matters negotiate as a block and hence in a balanced way with large countries like the US and China.
Given Trump's background of using his money to take advantage of contractors for his companies by using lawsuits with no hope of winning meant only to drain out the resources of others and make them quite, it makes perfectly sense that he would see those others pooling resources to be able to face him as "screwing him over" and in that "logic" the EU being created "screw over" the US.
It's the same "I'll respect you if you respect me" dynamic in an imbalanced-power system.
I'm screwing you over if I personally feel bad for what I'm doing to you (never happens, therefore I'm always fair). You're screwing me over if you inconvenience me.
terminally dumb
This one
Trump is kinda right. Charles De Gaulle wanted a united Europe to prevent Anglo-American influence. Aside from his Anglophobia, he vetoed UK joining then EEC because he thought UK is a Trojan horse for American influence into Europe. He also thought that the British are reluctant Europeans anyhow, so why let them in?
Fast forward 60 years later, and De Gaulle was found right. US companies tried to lobby the EU through UK. The Brits voted for Brexit, and the US finally became an unreliable ally.
For so much of the French being chauvinistic in a cringey way, they are right not to commit to Anglo influence or Atlanticism, presciently. The French still likes to assert their own global influence but in multilateral way with other countries. Macron and De Gaulle are correct for looking for strategic autonomy.
Edit: I also want to add, that the Brussels effect forces other countries to adopt higher standards and regulations if they want to trade with the EU. Obviously, many right wing Americans such as Trump don't like this.
Brussels effects haters be like: "I really fucking hate USB type-C cables being on every device where it makes sense! I want to bo back to expensive and crappy proprietary cables only the original manufacturer is allowed to make!"
That, nukes, NATO... It may have been rank anglophobia, but man, did history prove him right...
I know it’s a whine, but roughly a quarter of the country voted for Brexit.
Remember that when you bag on Americans for putting Trump in office.
I'm in the EU and I very much I hope he does, beause the response will be spectacular: apparently there is an Act from 2023 that the EU can respond to this by suspending intellectual property rights of US companies, plus from last time Trump was President the EU learned to target counter-Tariffs for maximum political effect (basically hitting Republican states hardest) and that will also work fine in targetting US companies politically affiliated with Trump (bye, bye, Tesla!).
Also it will definitelly finish off any lingering delusions of European politicians that the US is an "ally".
Yeah howerver for that you'd need Brussels to find its balls and actually start acting like it had a spine.
And of course, find a consensus among all the contradictory interest of the different EU states (including a good chunk aligned on trump's illiberal approach if not Russian controlled).
Man I REALLY hope you're right, but I don't have my hopes up. On another hand if it's not now, it'll never happen.
That would be great if another way to retaliate against US tariffs would be other countries officially hosting pirated US material for anyone to download. Make it extra easy for everyone to boycott American companies!
I mean, we have retaliatory tariffs ready to go too, and I'm not sure they'd be any less damaging.
If we went nuclear shutting off power to New York and water to Seattle and Boise is a thing we could do.
The bat needs to bounce back and also hit the fascist ball in the face. Making things worse for everybody for no reason!
Oui oui le tariff oui
Yes, please, do that. I'm so curious who will he blame when the dollar will be 0.54 euros
Obama, of course.
DO IT! COMON! DO IT! Make every european leader more alligned with the EU and push us more and more together and more indipendent again!
DO IT! SCARDY CAT
The EU was setup to help protect Europe and enable them to have better control over overly enthusiastic capitalist companies such as those found in the US.
But what do we expect from a low intelligence puppet of Russia?
He’s such a petulant little baby. Macron corrected me, now I’m mad. 😭🍼👶🫃 Fuck Putin Puppet.
Trump’s tariffs: Swinging a 25% hammer while shouting, “They started it!”—peak trade war theatrics.
😺😺😺😺
Wtf kinda drug are the elite in the US on?
Russian psy-ops boosted by algos from coked up tech bros.
Cocaine, I remember hearing about Elon Musk's supplier a while back. Most of the Republican Party is cranked, too, according to a historically young GOP congressman Madison Cawthorn.
Ketamine, or so I heard.
Capitalism.
Side effects include electing a complete moron and his piss baby groupies to the presidency
We need a dictator then?
Money and power the name of that drog
Money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP2EKTCngiM Being rich is a mental disease. You don't think straight when you are rich. The best solution is to not let people bi rich, ever.
Special K if Elon is any indication
Fucking do it then, cunt!
Wake me when that pussy manages to even speak in his own cabinet meetings without elon interrupting.
This is at least 50% because of the sharp decline in swasticar sales in the EU.
It’s retaliation for free market forces hurting his dommy mommy’s Xitter feefees.
The other 50% is probably some combination of EU being willing to incorporate Ukraine and throwing around buzzwords because his brain is riddled with holes from puppet strings and drugs.
Macron fact checked Trump in public, a retaliation was expected. Honestly i am surprised it took that long.
food undercooked? tarriff!
Food overcooked? Believe it or not, tarriff!
yeah american tourists are going to have a hard time in the next 50 years.
Studies show the majority of Americans don't have a passport let alone have left their own state. 3rd world country.
That's unfortunately what happens when people get gaslit into thinking being a debt slave is morally righteous.
Ok so to recap: stuff made in Mexico? Tariffs! Stuff made in Canada? Tariffs! Stuff made in the EU? Tariffs! Stuff made in China? Tariffs!
Is he jealous of the European 20-25% VAT?
Please EU, don't retaliate on this. If the US put tariffs on everything from everywhere, then it's just masochism and we should let them enjoy the suffering
Stuff made in China? Tariffs!
Unless China considers it important. If so, they'll just not send it.
Do it. See what happens to that beautiful country of yours. What do you even provide the world besides shitty tech like meta and microsoft?
I believe Europe is importing quite some LNG, since we are weaning off Russia's gas teat
Canada has quite a lot we can ship to Europe if you don’t want American LNG.
And suddenly Norway (not part of the EU or custom union) was exempt since I think energy and gas is what we live off these days.
I wonder how viable it would be to crack Canadian bitumen to produce methane for Europe
Guns and superhero movies mostly.
God it is going to be kind of delightful watching America get what it deserves over the next few years.
Would love to be in the guy's head for just 5 minutes, to see if he's high or crazy or what.
Isn’t it the other way around. The USA was formed to screw over the European world powers.
The US was a white colonialist project that once it became strong enough wrestled independence from the colonialist nations that started it, pretty much like has happenned all throught History.
IMHO, the people it was formed to screw over were the natives of the land the colonialists stole - so he members of the native Indian tribes.
Putin's puppet
Do it you pussy! Come on! DO IT!
welp, orange donvict did promote his platform as "America First!".
The EU was formed for America First!
Mmm... Orangutan starts throwing shtuff at all the other apes and then complains when they don't want to hang out with him any more
What a ferkin ashole
Capitalism-lover hates competition. Interesting.
Capitalism strives to make money. Competition means profit margins shrink. So yes capitalists are against competition.
That is one of the many reasons listening to companies is not good economic planning for countries.
Not everything is about the US and certainly not about this Putin-loving fascist.
Someone fucking ball gag this rapist to shut him up.
Kinky.
And the bloc of 50 united states was formed to screw the bloc of european union ?
Any attempts of anyone to do anything he doesn't like is an attempt to screw him in his eyes.
The EU's major effect isn't harm to the us but keeping France, England, and Germany from shooting each other
God, I hate this fascist cunt.
China: the fuck did I do??
EWS. Existing while socialist. Doesn't matter if you believe they are or aren't, they use the word, they're a shaky ally at best, an outright enemy when any kind of hackles get raised
Yes, because the initial tarriff talks went over so well...
It did for Mexico and Canada.
They agreed to nothing new, and the terrifs vanished.
It must be like trying to negotiate with a toddler.
Oh my gosh, this is so fucked up.
Classic aim high and make the second offer seem like a win tactic?
I believe the German government holds the information about the loans/payments from Russia, through Cyprus, to Deutsche Bank and then to the orange stain. The EU is better prepared than the Government of Putin. Game on motherfuckers and the US consumers better be ready to buy shitty Russian built Lada's.
Based on an overwhelming amount of economic studies of tariffs in the last 100 years, the EU should ignore it. Why enact tariffs on American goods and make life more expensive for Europeans? Studies show EU businesses will raise prices accordingly. The citizens will be worse off.
However, based on our knowledge of how politicians act, they'll take the bait and retaliate, thus making things more expensive for EU citizens.
This is what I've been thinking about for Canada's reaction - do nothing! I can't say how it will affect us now and in the immediate future but it seems the damage is already done anyway. BTW. this is my 1st post on Lemmy - thank you!
Maybe not "do nothing" but I like the remove certain products from shelves. Like stop the sale of American alcohol from shelves.
I don't get it. If we do retaliate, the US will have something to gain (back) by removing the tariffs.
I don't know what studies you are referring to (please leave a link) but it seems counterintuitive to not have that bargaining chip to force a quick end to the tarriffs (See US vs Canada 2025, US vs Mexico 2025).
I don't see how one could reasonably measure policies like these through time; of course it's worse in the short term for all involved parties but should resolve the situation faster. If they only measure the time during active tarriffs of course it's better through survivorship bias.
Never thought the phrase "Critics, including [experts and/or politics], warn this may harm US economy" would ever be as sad and repetitive
The USA was formed to screw Great Britain. What goes around comes around.
The britains left and joined on their own will
Do it already. Let's catalyst the revolution before I am too old to participate.
I remember John Kerry's election in 2004 was thwarted due in part to the perception that he was flip-flopping around a lot of issues. Trump is constantly making an absolute fool of himself by constantly backing away from shit he said he was going to do.
Not an untrue statement. The EU was formed to make them more financially competitive and stop the endless internal warfare.
Are you kidding? The major achievement of the pact has been to stop wars among its members, something that the US highly appreciated after the WW. All presidents up to Trump have been in strong favour of the EU, and EU expansion. Obama campaigned against Brexit. Bush junior strongly pushed for expansion into Eastern Europe. They all realised how much they benefited from having strong allies. Incredible how quickly that lesson has been forgotten.
Plot twist, it wasn't forgotten. The person who wants the EU destroyed the most is probably Putin.... Followed 2nd by huge corporations/monopolies.
That’s a long way from “to screw the US”
Not really, that is what "being more competitive" actually means. Using leverage to secure the best deal possible.
"This again? See you next month, Don."
He's like clockwork, but he's more of a fake Rolex.
Ofc the EU was created to screw the USA. Good for them. Nobody wants to be subservient to the paper petrol-dollars of a genocidal empire that's literally destroying the planet for a few ultra privileged man babies.
please do. people should keep reminding this in social media platforms and everywhere else until he has no choice but to do it
The EU has an official mechanism to combat economic pressure like this that includes suspension of all intellectual property from the country imposing the tarrifs.
Slap 100% tariffs on the bloc of united states, as a courtesy.
The piece of shit saying that was formed to screw the US
Can someone explain to me why this is worse than Europes VAT tax?
According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) study, any nation that switches to VAT initially feels the negative impact of reduced tax revenues. In the long run, however, the study concluded that VAT adoption has in the majority of cases increased government revenue and proved effective.
It seems to be proven quite effective, and Europe still has them, so why is Trumps worse/better than a VAT?
VAT is a universal tax on goods. A tariff is basically a tax that applies only to imported goods. So a tariff distorts the market, making imports from a region more expensive relative to other regions, or domestic goods.
Note that basically any tax is bad from an economic perspective. However for the government to function revenues must be raised. It is considered better for market efficiency to raise revenues in such a way as to least distort the market. Tariffs are a very distorting instrument, VAT is generally considered less distorting because it affects all parts of the market equally.
To add another example to your great post.
And when there are exceptions, they are based on the type of good. Eg in Australia GST isn't charged on fresh fruit and vegetables in a grocery store. It doesn't matter whether an orange was grown in Australia or internationally it will be tax free.
Whereas with a tariff, a orange grown locally will be tax exempt whereas the imported one (from a tariff applied country) will.
We pay tax. For imported goods. That isn't tariffs
Screw U orange shit4brains. You get what you give loser
Pathological liar.
To be fair, the EU has some pretty insane tariffs on everyone outside the EU.
