There’s something grotesque about watching a global economic power accept a daylight robbery by tariff without so much as a raised eyebrow. Trump has made it official: 70% of EU exports will be hit. If things go south, that number jumps to 97%.
And what does the EU do in the face of this assault?
They hold meetings. Call for calm. Vow to be “ready.” But they don’t respond. In fact, they freeze everything. Again.
The Commission’s deputy trade director says it plainly: we must stay calm, because “retaliatory measures should serve a purpose, not be an end in themselves.”
Translation? If they hit us, we should really think hard before doing anything. Maybe forever.
We’ve gone from trade strategy to group therapy.
Brussels still clings to the belief that negotiations will save us — even as the other side of the table has already lit the fuse. And so, as the U.S. slaps tariffs on critical minerals, wood, copper, pharmaceuticals, and aviation, we say: now’s not the time to react.
Worse still: while Trump slams shut the American wallet, some in Europe want to play the teacher’s pet, proudly following the rules even as their lunch gets stolen.
The Commission drafts countermeasures that will never be used, lists legal tools that will never be activated, and assures us “there’s still time to decide.” Meanwhile, European industries are left licking their wounds, wondering how much longer they have to endure being led by those who confuse caution with cowardice.
Trump imposes.
Europe absorbs.
And those who dare to speak of European pride are silenced in the name of ‘institutional responsibility.’
But taking the hits doesn’t make you stronger. It just makes you weaker.
And the United States figured that out a long time ago.