The US president added that he "can do anything I want" with Brussels' $600 billion worth of pledged investments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/45601379

The US president added that he “can do anything I want” with Brussels’ $600 billion worth of pledged investments

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250805165341/https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/trump-threatens-eu-with-35-tariff-if-investment-pledge-falls-through/

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  • 332 ( 332@feddit.nu ) English
    20·
    1 year ago

    Unless there is some truly apocalyptic behind the scenes geopolitics realignment on the table here, we must cut them off. Call their bluff. Europe must have the courage to say that enough is enough. Yeah, short term we might have some price turmoil (again), but we can’t live like this.

      • 332 ( 332@feddit.nu ) English
        8·
        1 year ago

        There is a indirect cost to superficially placating him as well, since you’re helping him build the image of himself winning every negotiation, but yes, I agree this is also a valid option.

      • Calavera ( calavera@lemmy.zip ) English
        1·
        1 year ago

        This is just a short term solution. we still are going to to be living in fear that at some point someone might tell him that nobody is abiding by the deals

  • A_norny_mousse ( A_norny_mousse@feddit.org ) English
    10·
    1 year ago

    What Rump says:

    “Well, then they pay tariffs of 35%,” Trump told CNBC on Tuesday, when asked what action he would take if the EU failed to uphold its side of the EU-US trade deal.

    As part of the agreement, most EU exporters will face a flat 15% US tariff – half the 30% previously threatened by Trump. In return, the EU pledged to lower its own tariffs on various goods and to boost purchases of US energy by $750 billion over the remaining three and a half years of Trump’s presidency.

    “They brought down their tariffs. So they paid $600 billion. And because of that, I reduced their tariffs from 30% down to 15%,” Trump said. “And a couple of countries came: ‘How come [the] EU is paying less than us?’ And I said, well, because they gave me $600 billion. And that’s a gift; that’s not like, you know, a loan, by the way.”

    Oh, suddenly you want to play fair?

    What the EU says:

    Commission officials have claimed that the deal’s purchasing and investment commitments, which are widely considered to be unrealistic and cannot be legally enforced by Brussels, are only “projections” that are based on the “very clear intentions” of private EU companies.

    An official White House account of the deal also states that the EU has committed to purchase “significant amounts of US military equipment” – a claim rejected by Brussels.

    An EU official said on Tuesday that a forthcoming EU-US joint statement, which is “90-95% ready”, will offer “clarity” on many of the deal’s details, but did not say that this would resolve the disagreement over military purchases.

    I am certainly awaiting that joint statement, because the current versions are as far away from each other as when I ask my parents why they got divorced. And I know which side is more responsible for that discrepancy.

    I swear, if the EU decides to swallow another turd…

    • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝 ( HK65@sopuli.xyz ) English
      12·
      1 year ago

      And I said, well, because they gave me $600 billion. And that’s a gift; that’s not like, you know, a loan, by the way.”

      Dude does not understand basic economics. This is as if my wife told me she applied to a company with a turnover of a billion, and I went and bragged at the pub “my wife made us billionaires!”

      He just heard the number and is now happy with the number, without knowing what that number even measures.