Imposed citing forced labour concerns, the levies replace a temporary global duty brought in after the US Supreme Court struck down tariffs in February.
We really need to take the fight to our own leaders.
Trump et al are despicable and a force of evil, but if Europe would actually stand up for itself, harnesses the power it already has and brought some urgency to our actual sovereignty this would not be happening.
And we, all of Europe, urgently need to wake up to the reality that this isn’t some blip. This is the US with its mask off. Sure, it may be a few degrees worse than it used to be but the US has never been a genuine ally. People really need to stop hitting the snooze button.
It is ridiculous and embarrassing that we allow this to happen to us and that we spent literal decades not stepping up our game.
A year ago or so I would have tepidly accepted this as an argument but there’s nothing that shows any sense of urgency. It’s not that there’s nothing happening but it’s nowhere near the level it should and there’s still a sense of just waiting until he’s gone. Except he was already gone and came back, which was completely predictable and he didn’t fall from the sky to begin with.
The US had to be in a place where this was possible to begin with. The Democratic party offers zero genuine opposition safe for a few individuals but the establishment does everything it can to keep them out of power. No matter who takes office next, it’s unlikely things will change for the better and even if so every four years the situation can go 180 again. The US is not just not a reliable partner, they’ve become an adversary and to some extent they always have been. We were just refusing to see it.
When it comes to defence and technology there’s no coordinated effort to change things around. Trade is moving but slowly. The EU has the ability to crash the US economy tomorrow but we won’t even use that fact as leverage.
Sycophancy, real or pretend, does not work. In the history of humanity sycophancy has never improved the situation and often made things worse. Appeasing a bully is the absolute worst strategy. And there’s no need - we hold a tremendous amount of power but we refuse to believe in our own strength.
I disagree. There is happening a lot and detangling complex systems takes time.
I don’t get why people think cold turkey diplomacy is beneficial for anyone. People have to plan 5-10 years for transitioning or accept hardship for the citizens, what results in problems by itself.
But given that it indeed takes several years to transition an existing system urgency is needed. Every day we wait or half-heartedly do something it only takes longer and only creates more risk and long-term harm.
As for hardship - we’re not exactly a poor continent. There’s a whole lot we can do to support people and even (small) companies were it needed.
This “urgently” and so forth… this hasty approach, leads to mentioned hardship and cold turkey.
EU is already doing a lot, while appeasing. There’s a lot of investment in chip industry (e.g. RISC-V) happening and European companies like ASML are putting up against bullying. Communications and defense is more European than ever, e.g. with the frequency bands denied for SpaceX or big invests in Eutelsat…
This is just a scratch but there are a lot of things going on. Enough things to read the room, if you’re willing to.
It’s fine to disagree but don’t make it like I said something I didn’t.
When it comes to defence we are still spending the vast majority of our money on US weaponry rather than investing it into our own economies and helping our companies scale up. There’s a balance but the tilt is quite wrong at the moment and has been for decades. There’s no genuine effort into any kind of shared defence continent-wide (just ask Commissioner Kubilius).
The US is ordering ASML to stop exports to China and we are willing to even engage with the US over this instead of just giving them the finger. ASML has an extremely powerful position.
Everything we do is done with such fear of the US and to the degradation of Europe, even the steps towards our own independence are constantly cast in this light.
I am not further engaging in this conversation given that you twice chose to read words I never wrote.
We really need to take the fight to our own leaders.
Trump et al are despicable and a force of evil, but if Europe would actually stand up for itself, harnesses the power it already has and brought some urgency to our actual sovereignty this would not be happening.
And we, all of Europe, urgently need to wake up to the reality that this isn’t some blip. This is the US with its mask off. Sure, it may be a few degrees worse than it used to be but the US has never been a genuine ally. People really need to stop hitting the snooze button.
It is ridiculous and embarrassing that we allow this to happen to us and that we spent literal decades not stepping up our game.
Or be more strategic.
Fake compliance and strengthen our position, just like we’re doing. Newer deals exclude the USA more and more, their economical basis is vaning.
A year ago or so I would have tepidly accepted this as an argument but there’s nothing that shows any sense of urgency. It’s not that there’s nothing happening but it’s nowhere near the level it should and there’s still a sense of just waiting until he’s gone. Except he was already gone and came back, which was completely predictable and he didn’t fall from the sky to begin with.
The US had to be in a place where this was possible to begin with. The Democratic party offers zero genuine opposition safe for a few individuals but the establishment does everything it can to keep them out of power. No matter who takes office next, it’s unlikely things will change for the better and even if so every four years the situation can go 180 again. The US is not just not a reliable partner, they’ve become an adversary and to some extent they always have been. We were just refusing to see it.
When it comes to defence and technology there’s no coordinated effort to change things around. Trade is moving but slowly. The EU has the ability to crash the US economy tomorrow but we won’t even use that fact as leverage.
Sycophancy, real or pretend, does not work. In the history of humanity sycophancy has never improved the situation and often made things worse. Appeasing a bully is the absolute worst strategy. And there’s no need - we hold a tremendous amount of power but we refuse to believe in our own strength.
I disagree. There is happening a lot and detangling complex systems takes time.
I don’t get why people think cold turkey diplomacy is beneficial for anyone. People have to plan 5-10 years for transitioning or accept hardship for the citizens, what results in problems by itself.
I never said anything about cold turkeys.
But given that it indeed takes several years to transition an existing system urgency is needed. Every day we wait or half-heartedly do something it only takes longer and only creates more risk and long-term harm.
As for hardship - we’re not exactly a poor continent. There’s a whole lot we can do to support people and even (small) companies were it needed.
This “urgently” and so forth… this hasty approach, leads to mentioned hardship and cold turkey.
EU is already doing a lot, while appeasing. There’s a lot of investment in chip industry (e.g. RISC-V) happening and European companies like ASML are putting up against bullying. Communications and defense is more European than ever, e.g. with the frequency bands denied for SpaceX or big invests in Eutelsat…
This is just a scratch but there are a lot of things going on. Enough things to read the room, if you’re willing to.
It’s fine to disagree but don’t make it like I said something I didn’t.
When it comes to defence we are still spending the vast majority of our money on US weaponry rather than investing it into our own economies and helping our companies scale up. There’s a balance but the tilt is quite wrong at the moment and has been for decades. There’s no genuine effort into any kind of shared defence continent-wide (just ask Commissioner Kubilius).
The US is ordering ASML to stop exports to China and we are willing to even engage with the US over this instead of just giving them the finger. ASML has an extremely powerful position.
Everything we do is done with such fear of the US and to the degradation of Europe, even the steps towards our own independence are constantly cast in this light.
I am not further engaging in this conversation given that you twice chose to read words I never wrote.
That’s just, how I read your text 🤷♂️
And yes, it is fine to disagree.
Defense is shifting largely, and many non-EU countries are following. I don’t see your criticism.