The Europeans are defenseless against the US president. They would lose a trade war with Donald Trump. But doing nothing is not an option either.
D The USA is located at war with Europe. Not every voter in Europe has understood this, even though the White House’s declaration of war was clear. One only has to read Trump’s new “National Security Strategy” to understand that Trump wants to subjugate and humiliate Europe. It should obey his maxims. Trump also wants to be president of Europe.
Greenland is a symbol of this: Trump wants to own the Arctic island, so Denmark and Europe should deliver. Point. It is already clear that it will not stop with Greenland. Trump will keep making new demands on Europe. Among other things, he is against US companies having to pay a European digital tax. Trump will also demand that the continent remain silent as he goes on a tour of conquest elsewhere. Finally, the US President also wants to annex the Panama Canal. After that maybe Canada.
Trump can humiliate Europe because the continent is actually weak. We are open to blackmail because we need the USA as an export market, because we need the information from the US secret services and because we would be pretty much defenseless without the USA’s nuclear shield. It will take years and decades to reduce these dependencies. And yet Europe must send the signal: this far and no further.
Currently the Europeans have not much threatening potential. They could indeed unpack their trade “bazooka” and Impose counter tariffs of 93 billion euros. But such a trade war would be very risky for the EU because the European economy would also suffer and jobs would be lost. An economic crisis would also strengthen the populists, especially since many voters mistakenly believe that Greenland is none of their business.
As cynical as it sounds, perhaps it would be best if the AI bubble bursts soon. Then Trump in the USA would also be disenchanted with many MAGA fans – and the world would have peace and quiet from this would-be emperor. However, the economic crisis would be severe, including in Europe.
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