US/EU trade talks go down to the wire

There is a EU border inside the UK- so the UK is hardly by itself-

EU says jump-

UK - Trump jumps-

I think theres more at stake here. Believing that the US economy will reflect these tarrifs in this overtly obvious way or indeed that the US public would even accept that it was the tarrifs fault is a gamble.

The EU are bending the knee. They should have stood as an equal and called his bluff.

Theyre agreeing to be even more beholden to the US now re energy and arms.

They are giving Donnie his propaganda win as well.

Worse could follow The Don. No guarantees that the US voting public come to their senses in 4 years and the EU will be more dependent on the US and proved that they can be bullied. Lose lose in my opinion.

To the best of my knowledge the tarrif on China is 30%? And negotiation talks are ongoing.

Trump rowed right back on all his Dr. EVIL 1 Billion percent nonsense when China stood up to him.

History is littered with the softly softly approach to bullies/dictators and it rarely ends well.

"Better for Europeans to feel beaten than to have real world actual Armageddon."

If we did have another crash/Armageddon least the world would have learned that allowing headcases like Trump to have any power should never occur again.

Mistakes have to be made in order for lessons to be learned.

"Is there some feel good fantasy where bullies always get their comeuppance or something? Are you seriously willing to sacrifice millions of European jobs, just to stand up to a disgusting piece of shlt who is completely unbothered by anything you do?"

I would be yes, Trump has ripped up the rulebook, he is not playing by standard rules and cannot be beaten using them. We need to fight fire with fire and put him in his place, show we have the negotiating power and make the US think twice about ever pulling a stunt like this again. You need a monster to kill a monster.

No idea. The rate is less important. I think they should have put up a reciprocal response and gone head to gead woth him.

I think they should be looking at internal energy sources and internal arming sources.

By empowering the EU in long run.

People are basically advocating path of least resistance for a peer?

That makes no sense. Trump may leave in 4 years and the replacement looks for another pound of flesh? Where does it stop?

The only reason to fold is if youre the weaker party.

Patriotism aside... the EU probably has been taking advantage of the US a bit recently. So, making some sort of public concession may not be the worst thing.

15% tariffs isn't great but it's 15% before local taxes, some of which will be swallowed by producers, so, it might not exactly drive Americans away from EU products.

In what way have we been doing that?

Unfortunately this is the reality for the EU. They were faced with a Hobson's choice because of Trump's lunacy. A creature who'd happily sit on his fat arse in Mar a Lago and watch as his entire nation fall apart around him. He's been an absolute blight on world politics and the sooner he's gone the better for everyone.

trump played a stormer here let's be honest and people should take the blinkers off. he had the EU over the barrel on security and hence he got this deal it really is that simple. I would imagine behind closed doors it was taken the deal or your on your own. the EU by outsourcing their security to the US for the last 50 years plus created this mess. o. the other hand it could be the kick in the arse the EU needs

How is it a "stormer"?

He had 30% in one hand and 15% in the other. What were the EU supposed to do in that situation.

I wonder when the reality of higher costs for goods hit the US consumer will they stupidly think that it's a "stormer" as well.