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.

This is why appeasement doesn’t work.

The Auckland University in New Zealand published an economic model what the U.S. tariffs mean (the model is updated at 31 July.

TLDR:

• Unsurprisingly, the tariffs reduce the countries’ outputs everywhere, but the economist describe the U.S. tariffs as an “economic own goal”.

• U.S. annual GDP decreases by 0.36% which equates to US$108.2 billion or $861 per U.S. household per year. Only Switzerland’s GDP decrease is higher at $1,215 per household.

• In dollar terms, GDP decreases are relatively large for China, the European Union, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan. Australia and the UK slightly gain from the tariffs, primarily due to the relatively low tariffs levied on these countries. Despite facing relatively low additional tariffs, New Zealand’s GDP decreases by 0.15% ($204 per household) as many of its agricultural exports compete with Australian commodities, which are subject to an even lower tariff.

• The U.S. tariffs will compel foreign producers to lower their prices. But these price decreases only partially offset the cost of the tariffs, so US consumers pay higher prices. U.S. businesses also pay more for parts and materials. Ultimately, these higher prices hurt the US economy.

• The tariffs decrease U.S. merchandise imports by $486.7 billion. But as they drive up the cost of U.S. supply chains and shift more workers and resources into industries that compete with imports, away from other parts of the economy, they also decrease US merchandise exports by $451.1 billion.

Trump said…

" So they paid $600 billion. And because of that, I reduced their tariffs from 30% down to 15%(…) They gave us $600 billion that we can invest in anything we want,(…) I can do anything I want with it."

Thus spoke the Orange Toddler King of BS.

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…

I hope it falls thru!

The EU is the USA’s little b*tch now.