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.

  • AidsKitty@lemmy.world
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    5 minutes ago

    Not an untrue statement. The EU was formed to make them more financially competitive and stop the endless internal warfare.

  • ehpolitical@lemmy.ca
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    4 hours ago

    Would love to be in the guy’s head for just 5 minutes, to see if he’s high or crazy or what.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      7 hours ago

      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.

  • fieryhamster007@lemmy.world
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    9 hours 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?

  • deczzz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 hours ago

    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?

      • Frostbeard@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        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.

      • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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        4 hours ago

        I wonder how viable it would be to crack Canadian bitumen to produce methane for Europe

  • Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 hours ago

    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

  • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    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”.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    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

  • endeavor@sopuli.xyz
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    10 hours ago

    Wake me when that pussy manages to even speak in his own cabinet meetings without elon interrupting.

  • Lit@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    And the bloc of 50 united states was formed to screw the bloc of european union ?

  • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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    15 hours 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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      15 hours 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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        10 hours 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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          10 hours ago

          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.

        • Coriza@lemmy.world
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          8 hours 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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            8 hours 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

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

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

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    please do. people should keep reminding this in social media platforms and everywhere else until he has no choice but to do it