“A Europe that faces increasingly transactional American trade policy…”
Good piece, well-written.
I agree with all your major premises here: mercantilism bad, narrow national security interests are legit, etc.
My objection is that near the end of your piece you start to obfuscate the difference between protections for legit national security interests and things like trade disputes. Specifically U.S - Europe, where in fact there are zero such national security concerns, just potential economic relative advantage concerns - which you imply/blur as being “economic security”
Which leads me to the quoted line: imo your objection is much more with Trump’s *tactics* in seeking reduced protectionism from European trading partners, rather than trade policy per se. You as Europeans prefer the deal as currently negotiated and as practically implemented and enforced today, because you (probably correctly) believe it benefits Europeans in the short and medium run, and benefits European politicians with their voters.
Trump wants reduced protectionism from Europe (and also for Europe to pay more for Europe’s defense). There are no more global trade talks.
My point being you are objecting to tactics and words more than actual “trade policy”. You prefer/preferred the America that meekly went along with the trade status quo.
That Trump and some of his supporters talk “mercantilist” some of the time notwithstanding, the reality re: U.S - European trade is that Europe has more barriers to trade than the U.S. does. One of the many things Trump wants to do is change that.
For legit free marketers, he should be applauded for that and Europe should be castigated for their position, rather than the reverse.
But I’ve yet to see notable free market defenders like yourself make this point.
Once you do, criticisms of the rest of Trump’s policies and exclamations can be legitimate.
Absent such commentary, those same criticisms, especially coming from Europeans, ring hollow and self-serving.
“A Europe that faces increasingly transactional American trade policy…”
Good piece, well-written.
I agree with all your major premises here: mercantilism bad, narrow national security interests are legit, etc.
My objection is that near the end of your piece you start to obfuscate the difference between protections for legit national security interests and things like trade disputes. Specifically U.S - Europe, where in fact there are zero such national security concerns, just potential economic relative advantage concerns - which you imply/blur as being “economic security”
Which leads me to the quoted line: imo your objection is much more with Trump’s *tactics* in seeking reduced protectionism from European trading partners, rather than trade policy per se. You as Europeans prefer the deal as currently negotiated and as practically implemented and enforced today, because you (probably correctly) believe it benefits Europeans in the short and medium run, and benefits European politicians with their voters.
Trump wants reduced protectionism from Europe (and also for Europe to pay more for Europe’s defense). There are no more global trade talks.
My point being you are objecting to tactics and words more than actual “trade policy”. You prefer/preferred the America that meekly went along with the trade status quo.
That Trump and some of his supporters talk “mercantilist” some of the time notwithstanding, the reality re: U.S - European trade is that Europe has more barriers to trade than the U.S. does. One of the many things Trump wants to do is change that.
For legit free marketers, he should be applauded for that and Europe should be castigated for their position, rather than the reverse.
But I’ve yet to see notable free market defenders like yourself make this point.
Once you do, criticisms of the rest of Trump’s policies and exclamations can be legitimate.
Absent such commentary, those same criticisms, especially coming from Europeans, ring hollow and self-serving.
Respectfully.
This framework explains well why Chinese Goverment have subsidized the EV. Very smart people over there.