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.

  • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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.

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      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!”

      • HappyStarDiaz@real.lemmy.fan
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        2 days ago

        I mean USB is so so so bad and what a lie that USB-C is some universal thing (besides the physical connector)

        • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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          If you think Intel fucking with the USB naming scheme (just keep 3.0 and 3.1 for the lower speed devices instead of renaming everything 3.2 gen 892034856 for fuck’s sake!) was bad, or you had trouble with keeping track of charger standards, then you forgot the time when most manufacturers had their own crappy proprietary connection standard, that didn’t really done much more than could have been with pre-existing standards, except to force you to buy an expensive and crappy cable, and some (especially those by Apple) often broke by just looking at them in the wrong way and had those crappy and impossible to solder enamel-coated wires inside them.

          • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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            2 days ago

            I remember the aisles of proprietary phone chargers in Best Buy and Walmart all sectioned off by device name and the Medusa like adapters that had 14 different plugs coming off of a universal barrel connector.

            • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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              20 hours ago

              macdude

              There you have it! If you want to cry for your proprietary Apple cables (Lightning, etc.) then do it, you have the right to be a complete moron. Now please post me an image of an iPhone with a floppy drive, because people were crying about the “obsolete headphone jack”, and didn’t want a “paper-thin phone”, nor those epic sci-fi airpods!

          • HappyStarDiaz@real.lemmy.fan
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            2 days ago

            If you have to have an hour long 15 point plan to explain why usb doesn’t suck…it sucks.

            And yeah of course I would use that old moto phone 70 pin power connector over usb c. Very clear specs on what it did, and super robust.

        • Coriza@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Oh come on, the full USB spec may be a cluster fuck, but even the basic functionality that is shared is enough of a step forward to how it was before with multiple physical sockets with slightly different plugs and slightly different voltage and amperage. Once I forgot my phone charger at home and lo and behold I just plugged on my work laptop USB charger and now I could charge my phone. It is great. And any cable and combination like usb-a to usb-c will give you basic charging and basic data transfer. That in itself is already a saving grace and helps diminish the clutter of cables. Sure it could be better and less confusing for things like rapid charging and other stuff now USB supports but that does not detract from the advancement. Other thing, with usb-c there is also less port clutter that we had with the previously misguided plentora of USB plugs, A, B, mini, micro, etc.

          • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Now that we have established a standard we can see all the things that is wrong with it and make better for the next one, that’s how you move forward

          • HappyStarDiaz@real.lemmy.fan
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            2 days ago

            If you have to have an hour long 15 point plan to explain why usb doesn’t suck…it sucks.

            And yeah of course I would use that old moto phone 70 pin power connector over usb c. Very clear specs on what it did, and super robust.

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      That, nukes, NATO… It may have been rank anglophobia, but man, did history prove him right…

  • fieryhamster007@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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?

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      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.

  • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    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.

    • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Studies show the majority of Americans don’t have a passport let alone have left their own state. 3rd world country.

      • JLock17@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        That’s unfortunately what happens when people get gaslit into thinking being a debt slave is morally righteous.

  • Broadfern@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    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.

    • Snowstorm@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Macron fact checked Trump in public, a retaliation was expected. Honestly i am surprised it took that long.

    • MrMakabar@slrpnk.net
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      1 day ago

      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.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    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.

  • Takapapatapaka@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Never thought the phrase “Critics, including [experts and/or politics], warn this may harm US economy” would ever be as sad and repetitive

  • lefaucet@slrpnk.net
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    3 days ago

    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

  • jmsy@lemmy.world
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    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.

    • engene@lemmy.ca
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      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!

      • T00l_shed@lemmy.world
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        Maybe not “do nothing” but I like the remove certain products from shelves. Like stop the sale of American alcohol from shelves.

      • ragepaw@lemmy.ca
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        4 hours ago

        We didn’t do nothing. We announced massive retaliatory tariffs. The do nothing impression came from the fact that they asked for concessions we already offered.

        Also, the US is still hitting us with tariffs. Starting March 4, 25% on everything then in April an additional 25% on steel and aluminum.

    • Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de
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      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.

      • jmsy@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        Eugster, J., Jaumotte, M. F., MacDonald, M. M., & Piazza, M. R. (2022). The Effect of Tariffs in Global Value Chains. International Monetary Fund.

        Furceri, D., Hannan, S. A., Ostry, J. D., & Rose, A. K. (2020). Are tariffs bad for growth? Yes, say five decades of data from 150 countries. Journal of Policy Modeling, 42(4), 850–859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2020.03.009

        Schularick, M., & Solomou, S. (2011). Tariffs and economic growth in the first era of globalization. Journal of Economic Growth, 16(1), 33–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-011-9061-6

        York, E. (2018). The Impact of Trade and Tariffs on the United States. Tax Foundation.

        • Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de
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          6 hours ago

          I read the abstract of the two links. The first one just says “tarrifs bad” without even mentioning our discussion above.

          The second abstract said they did not find any evidence of “tarrifs good”, other factors had greater impact for growth. This is not the same question either.

          • jmsy@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            try reading the entire articles. the question you asked are described in the lit reviews and discussion