The Daily Populous Friday February 28th, 2025 day edition
Authored by politico.eu and submitted by Robbert91

The commissioner’s comments came a day after Trump threatened to hit the EU with sweeping 25-percent tariffs "on cars and all other things," provoking fury across the Atlantic — with politicians saying the time had come for Brussels to retaliate.

“We will not let ourselves be bullied, not with tariffs nor with threats about our legislation,” said Bernd Lange, a usually mild-mannered German Social Democrat who chairs the European Parliament’s international trade committee.

Trump’s broadside was a distillation of the trade grievances he had aired on the campaign trail and that he has stepped up since taking office a month ago. He again complained that Europe didn’t buy U.S. cars or food and lamented America's huge transatlantic trade deficit, which he pegged at a vastly exaggerated $300 billion.

Although the U.S. supported a united Europe after World War II within a strategic plan to create a democratic bulwark against the Soviet Union, Trump offered a different account: “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States,” he said. “That’s the purpose of it. They have done a good job of it, but now I am president.”

For European leaders, that crossed a line.

"The EU wasn’t formed to screw anyone," retorted Polish PM Donald Tusk in a post on X. "Quite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that."

vossmanspal on February 28th, 2025 at 05:27 UTC »

Oh dear, Putin is having the wettest dreams for years just now.

jvo203 on February 28th, 2025 at 04:54 UTC »

This is the way, it's time to call his bluffs and see how it all backfires on him. He predominantly uses threats and bluffing. And then the proverbial "shit hits the fans".

Blueskyways on February 28th, 2025 at 04:46 UTC »

A combined trade war with Canada, Mexico, China and the EU would cripple the US economy. Only a true stable genius would contemplate pursuing it.