Europe had a good situation. Trump gave them a choice between a fair situation or a bad one. Looks like they chose fair. You don’t get someone to give up a structural advantage without waving a stick around first.
I’m not trying to be picky, but this agreement doesn’t really cover automotive, and that’s a pretty fair chunk of trade.
I think one reason why the agreement doesn’t cover it is that most of the European automakers and OEMs have built US facilities (along with Chinese, Mexican, and Eastern European) to diversify their manufacturing and distribution base.
I think tariffs on automotive trade to the EU (and the regulations imposed on us to bar trade) are still not fair in the auto segment, but I also think this agreement is way past enough.
The press is spinning this as anti-Russian. This is stupid, of course, and a thumb in the eye.
I also think that if Trump’s goal is to help Putin to establish an energy infrastructure that allows Russia to reliable serve both Asia and Europe, that’s a good goal and should get Russia and the US off of a war footing.
Russia’s economy is the size of NY State. All they’ve got is petro. They should have more economic diversity.
If Putin can finally establish Russia as a reliable trade partner in SOMETHING, they can grow sustainably for generations. Russia can’t do that spending all their money on defense.