After a lot of big talk on trade, the Trump administration needed a big win. It appears to have just gotten one.

At a news conference on the trade deal, a reporter asked Mr. Trump whether he had rushed the agreement forward in an attempt to knock the Epstein story line out of the news. “You’ve got to be kidding,” a frustrated Mr. Trump responded. “That had nothing to do with it.”

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  • Hikuro-93@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Of course it was, since he successfully managed to break EU into a deal unfavorable to itself. Especially on the military part.

    And because this has way more implications than “EU bends the knee”, since the EU is one of the biggest trading blocs in the world, which now gives Trump way more leverage in bullying other partners.

    What happened to standing with Canada, UK, Mexico, and so on? What about all the bravado and strong worded letters? Where’s the action to go along with all that talk?

    I really hope EU long term keeps doing the work to be an independent power, otherwise just like now it won’t have anyone else to blame for being susceptible to pressure from outside.

    Ashamed to call myself European today, for how easily we caved in. And hopefully new, more reliant leadership comes soon.

    • NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      Didn’t we (the UK) already bow to the cheeto with our own trade deal?

      They have less value than the paper they’re written on so I fail to keep track

      • Hikuro-93@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, that’s the saving grace of the UK deal, it’s that it was very visibly a deal just to keep appearances of cooperation and buy time. And the terms of the deal (especially the import of US meats/poultry) indicated this.

        Now this with the EU, with the military spending and energy, I’m way more concerned since those are big sensitive areas where the EU is in a very disadvantageous position and might very well cave in all the way with enough pressure, especially when we bring Russia’s energy stuff into the mix.

        • Tja@programming.dev
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          1 day ago

          The energy part is OK for me, better US than Russia. What other options do we have short term? Qatar is not really better. Norway is the best, but already maxed out.

          Shame about the military, and most of the other points. I for one will continue to buy European, but coca cola sales just went up in Europe, so people mostly don’t care.