Posted on 02/01/2025 6:57:43 PM PST by Red Badger
President Donald Trump confirmed that he will impose tariffs on the European Union following what he described as unfair treatment toward the United States in trade negotiations.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration prepares to implement tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada.
Trump did not mince words regarding his intentions to take action against the EU.
“Am I going to impose tariffs on the European Union? Do you want the truthful answer, or should I give you a political answer? Absolutely.”
“Absolutely. The European Union has treated us so terribly,” Trump stated.
Trump has long criticized the EU for its unfair trade policies, arguing that they disadvantage American businesses while allowing the EU relatively open access to U.S. markets.
“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large-scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in December.
“Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”
In 2023, the EU exported $576.3 billion worth of goods to the U.S., accounting for nearly 20% of its total exports, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The European Union, composed of 27 countries, was established to promote economic cooperation, allowing the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people among member states. It remains one of the United States’ largest trading partners.
Trump’s move is expected to escalate tensions between Washington and Brussels as he advances his “America First” economic agenda.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, which left the EU on January 31, 2020, is in a unique position for trade with the U.S. However, Trump has criticized UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s left-wing government for hampering trade opportunities.
Despite Trump’s tariff threats, EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič expressed willingness to engage with the Trump administration.
“We listen very carefully to the messages coming from there, from the White House,” Šefčovič said in his first print interview since assuming his role in December.
EXCELLENT!
Winning :-)
Que: “Godzilla: King Of The Monsters”
Good that the UK left the EU then.
I still have Lotus parts to buy ASAP.
Starmer is trying to worm his way back in.
Works for me
Sadly the real UK is long gone.
I no longer have any desire to visit and am only glad I have a few English cars that were made before the industry there was destroyed.
Without Trump we would be following in their footsteps.
I loved the Lotus 7 that McGoohan had on “The Prisoner “.
This seems to be going back to Trump’s first term.
They did not respond to his proposals and and cooperate with the US, and over the course of the illegitimate Biden time did not address Trump’s requests.
So now is the time. They had four years to do the right thing.
Is it too late for “Tit for Tat” being that we match their tariff with ours?
So if they have a 10% tariff so do we.
If they have a 50% tariff we match that too.
So I wonder, would we see escalating or flattening tariff rates?
I have the successor to those, a Europa.
“The original model was highly successful with more than 2,500 cars sold”!
Trump understands that worms like Maduro and Starmer don’t really care about ideology more than their personal aggrandizement and their jobs.
I’ll bet VZ will do an oil deal with US during the trade tiff with CA.
From WIKI:
Exploration of an example (1920s)
One example of a modern tariff war occurred in the 1920s and 1930s between the Weimar Republic and Poland, in the German–Polish customs war. The Weimar Republic, led by Gustav Stresemann wanted to force Poland, by creating an economic crisis by increasing the tolls for coal and steel products developed there, to give up its territory.[citation needed] As a reprisal, the Poles increased toll rates for many German products. This led to fast development of the port of Gdynia, which was the only way Poland could export its goods to Western Europe without having to transport them through Germany.
In September 1922, the Fordney–McCumber Tariff (named after Joseph Fordney, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Porter McCumber, chair of the Senate Finance Committee) was signed by U.S. President Warren G. Harding.[3] In the end, the tariff law raised the average American ad valorem tariff rate to 38 percent.
Trading partners complained immediately. Those injured by World War I said that, without access by their exports to the American market, they would not be able to make payments to America on war loans. But others saw that this tariff increase would have broader deleterious effects. Democratic Representative Cordell Hull said, “Our foreign markets depend both on the efficiency of our production and the tariffs of countries in which we would sell. Our own [high] tariffs are an important factor in each. They injure the former and invite the latter.”
Five years after the passage of the tariff, American trading partners had raised their own tariffs by a significant degree. France raised its tariffs on automobiles from 45% to 100%, Spain raised tariffs on American goods by 40%, and Germany and Italy raised tariffs on wheat.[4] This customs war is often cited as one of the main causes of the Great Depression.
If US doesn’t export oil and gas to Europe, that could obviate the need for CA oil.
Then UK would be a natural partner.
Nothing for Euros for Ukraine or NATO.
He’s playing for all the marbles. High stakes poker.
They would have to replace the US marketplace and there isn’t many countries where they can replace the spending of the US consumer.
While EU is in a panic we should also leave UN and dissolve NATO. Make pacts with countries that are loyal friends, not rented. Stop the aid, see who is really on our side.
This is awesome to watch all of this unfold. #MAGA.
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