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Is EU-US Trade Deal a "Dark Day" for Europe?

Juin

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The deal agreed upon between the EU and the US does not appear to be going down well with French Prime Minister François Bayrou:


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"It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resorts to submission," said Bayrou in a post on X, speaking about the accord concluded on Sunday.
<<<


But more to the point: if it is a dark day for Europe, does that mean a great day for the US?

And does this vindicate Trump's years of complaints that the US was shafted?

Maybe some will argue Trump was wrong, and the US wasn't getting shafted. In that case what explains the European capitulation?




French PM Bayrou slams EU-US trade deal as 'submission'

On July 27, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump announced a deal to impose 15% tariffs on most European products going to the US, which sparked outcry across France's political spectrum.
www.lemonde.fr
 
joluoto said:
In my opinon Ursula von der Leyen and Maroš Šefčovič needs to resign over this.
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I have to agree. The deal does not across like a win win for all parties.
 
So American consumers pay a 15% import tax on European products and European consumers get American products tax-free? That what I'm reading?
 
Juin said:
Maybe some will argue Trump was wrong, and the US wasn't getting shafted. In that case what explains the European capitulation
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Plain and simple...15% is better than the extotionist's threat of 30% .
 
I suspect European leaders are just biding their time till Trump is out of office and then negotiate a new deal with the US.
 
I continue to oppose Trump's approach to tariffs. MAGA folk will see this as a win, and provided one likes tariffs, it can be seen as one with the EU paying higher tariffs here than we do there. Long term, however, this is not good for US business. Asymmetrical tariffs, if they can be sustained, are a kind of price subsidy, and that can be an innovation killer.

Though I must be honest. I'll be reading the opinion pages of The Guardian this week for what I expect to be some "Grade A Prime" schadenfreude.
 
They seem to agree that the deal is good for Trump, not the US, not Europe.
Also
Anglade blasted what he said was a "signal of weakness" sent "to our competitors [and] we must fight to reverse the situation."
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It seems nothing is set in stone.
 
Grand Mal said:
So American consumers pay a 15% import tax on European products and European consumers get American products tax-free? That what I'm reading?
Click to expand...



I believe its a little more than that. There's a disincentive to purchase goods with high tariffs. The exporter to the US doesn't want it, the consumer doesn't need it.

I never liked it when others put tariffs on US goods, I don't like it when it is placed on others
 
Juin said:
But more to the point: if it is a dark day for Europe, does that mean a great day for the US?
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These horrible tariffs will only add to our downfall. Already the entire world is changing their trading practices which leave out America. China, again, is the big winner.

For the communist countries of the world's, we are now their leader.

Very very dark days.
 



Agree. I am not too versed on economics. But I do know a deal that leaves one party very dissatisfied cannot be a very good deal. I like a win win deal
 
Grand Mal said:
15% will make Americans pass on that Mercedes or BMW and buy a Chev instead.
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Except that Chev will be up double-digits because of aluminum and steel tariffs. Besides which in the GB " deal " Jags are only 10 % and Japan just cut a real sweetheart deal on cars. The idiot just threw the American auto industry under the bus and Trumpers are applauding.

US automakers stunned as tariff loophole hands win to foreign rivals

President Donald Trump just signed what he calls the 'largest trade deal in history.' But America's carmakers hate it.
www.dailymail.co.uk

US automakers furious at Trump’s trade deal with UK — and here’s why

Ford and GM warned earlier this week that tariffs would cost them billions of dollars.
nypost.com
 
... and they do not disappoint:



And Reich's pearl clutching is particularly satisfying. Oh, good gracious, how can we possibly live moral lives when Trump is such a meany? Quick, fetch me my smelling salts!
 



I must confess that I am not too good when it comes to economics But is it much better if tariffs are generally phased out? Global trade appears to be reducing to a multiplicity of bilateral trades
 
Juin said:
I must confess that I am not too good when it comes to economics But is it much better if tariffs are generally phased out? Global trade appears to be reducing to a multiplicity of bilateral trades
Click to expand...
Tariffs have a place when used strategically to protect vulnerable Industries. In general though I think free trade promotes strong economic growth worldwide and economic stability promotes political stability and international security . Trade imbalances are not a bad thing in and of themselves . Wealthy, high consumers nations such as the US will always import more than they export. The real trade barriers in my view are non tariff issues like internal subsidies to select Industries etc non of which tariffs address.
 
Rumpel said:
a dark day for Europe
Click to expand...

I understand - and agree with - what you're saying, but there's also this to be considered, which @Callen pointed out in Post #5:

Plain and simple...15% is better than the extotionist's threat of 30% .

That said, it's a dark day indeed, not only for Europe but also for the USA that existed prior to trump and the GOP's recklessness and sabotage.

What @noonereal mentioned in Post #11 could well be the result: China will end up being the winner.
 
It's a dark day for America. We're partially excising ourselves from the global economy while pissing off every last ally. Generational damage.
 
joluoto said:
In my opinon Ursula von der Leyen and Maroš Šefčovič needs to resign over this.
Click to expand...
I want to agree with this sentiment, but I don't know that the "trade deal" isn't the best that could be gotten under the difficult circumstances of dealing with a greedy, short-sighted, and hostile USA, which is what Europe and other allies have to cope with in trump and his GOP.
 
Mr Person said:
It's a dark day for America. We're partially excising ourselves from the global economy while pissing off every last ally. Generational damage.
Click to expand...
"Generational damage" indeed. Good term to describe our self-inflicted and deliberate alienation of long-time allies and friends.
 
Canada will cave too. There is no other choice when dealing with a man as powerful as Trump. There is no deal, there is no negotiation it's an economic gun at your head. However, that is today's reality. Tomorrow it will be the United States who pays.
 



Its a tough world we live in. Dog eat dog kind of world. But one thing that always stood out in the decades I have been alive is that, in a dog eat dog world of bad deals, it is still the US that offers the best deal. Germany, Japan, S Korea are one of many examples of the kind of deal America can offer. The US should not be screwed, but others should not be screwed either. I wanted the European tariffs removed, but not slap them with tariffs. Is the 15% tariffs on Europeans intended to balance out some other unfair trade practice, or is it a tariff because there is only one game in town?
 
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