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Europe Shows Again That It Lacks a Backbone to Stand Up to Trump
Europe should be making no concessions of any kind whatsoever to Trump. European countries are capable of weathering the storm.
Jul 28, 2025
The European Union and the U.S. administration have reached a deal on international trade. Is it a fair deal for both sides? Also, what do Europeans think of President Donald Trump? And what about France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state? What does it actually mean?
Political scientist, political economist, author, and journalist C.J. Polychroniou tackles these questions in an interview with the French-Greek independent journalist Alexandra Boutri.
Alexandra Boutri: A new trade agreement has been reached between the United States and E.U. What’s your take on this deal?
C.J. Polychroniou: It’s an awful deal for the Europeans and a huge win for the Trump administration. The deal imposes a 15% tariff on all E.U. goods to the U.S. and compels the E.U. to boost its investment in the U.S. by $600 billion and also to buy $750 billion in U.S. energy products. With this awful deal, the Europeans have shown yet again that they lack a backbone to stand up to Trump’s bullying and intimidation tactics. In a way, the deal also reinforces the long-held view that Europe is essentially a vassal of the United States. Indeed, it is shocking to see E.U. officials trying to convince the public that the deal is a good one because it avoids trade chaos. The reality, however, is that the continent will now be even more dependent on the U.S. than ever before because it will become E.U.’s new Russia for gas.
But allow me to add something else to the question of the lack of a backbone on the part of Europe when it comes to dealing with Trump and the United States in general. Trump is also trying to push Europeans to adopt a more aggressive stance on immigration, and let’s not forget that the Dublin system has already turned Europe into a “fortress.” Trump said that immigration is “killing Europe” and urged European leaders to “stop the horrible invasion that’s happening to Europe.” This is white-nationalist doomerism, but it's hardly breaking news that Trump is a racist with strong fascist impulses. Trumpism is a racist, neofascistic political movement led naturally by a despicable human being, a self-aggrandizing bombastic buffoon. Yet, virtually no one among Europe’s political leaders took issue with him over his racist comments. To sum it up, my own thinking on the matter of E.U.-U.S. relations at the present juncture is that Europe should be making no concessions of any kind whatsoever to Trump. European countries are capable of weathering the storm. Trump truly needed badly a trade deal with the E.U., as the U.S. economy is more fragile than most people think. Instead, however, the E.U. simply succumbed to Trump's bullying without even putting up a fight.
Alexandra Boutri: Trump’s visit to Scotland was met with protests and demonstrations in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Would you say that Trump is unpopular in Europe?
C.J. Polychroniou: Oh, absolutely. He is extremely unpopular in most major European countries, including Scotland and England. Most Europeans see him as an enemy. Yet it is disheartening to watch Europe’s leaders bending over backward to appease Donald Trump, as they did with this awful trade deal and with a plan to increase military spending at the level that Trump wanted. E.U. citizens are totally opposed to increased military spending. A recent Eurobarometer poll showed that less than 25% of E.U. citizens want more money spent on military purposes. Only in some countries close to Russia, like Estonia, Finland, and Lithuania, was there support for more defense spending.
Alexandra Boutri: What do you make of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France will recognize a Palestinian state?
C.J. Polychroniou: It’s further indication that Israel has become a pariah state over the Gaza genocide. Of course, Israeli officials continue to deny that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel even denies causing mass starvation in Gaza. The whole world is lying about Gaza--except Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his far-right ministers, and the Israel Defense Forces, “the most (im)moral army in the world.” But you know the story: Anyone who criticizes Israel is an antisemite. Jews who do so are “self-hating” Jews. Like Noam Chomsky, who was one of the first in the U.S. to face this accusation, or Daniel Blatman, the Israeli Holocaust historian and head of the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who dares to speak of an Israeli genocide in Gaza. Of course, there is antisemitism in the world, just like there is Islamophobia. But it’s a vile form of propaganda to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
As far as Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state is concerned, it’s supposed to be sending a message to Israel that its actions in Gaza are reprehensible and that it is now paying a political price. The irony here is that France and most other European countries are fully complicit in the crimes committed by the Netanyahu government in Gaza and even in the West Bank. Israel would not have been in a position to commit war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people if it weren’t for the political, economic, and military support that it keeps receiving from the U.S. and other major Western countries like Germany, France, and the U.K.
At any rate, let’s not forget that the overwhelming majorly of the U.N. member states (more than 140 countries) already recognize a Palestinian state, including a dozen or so in Europe. But what is the world doing to stop the Israeli genocide? Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said just a few days ago that “we can no longer accept massacres and famine.” So, what is the Italian government doing about it? Has it imposed any sanctions against Israel? Has it severed its diplomatic relations with the Netanyahu government? Nothing of the sort. In fact, Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, found it necessary to criticize France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state.
Western hypocrisy knows no limits. It is indeed off the mark to speak of a “moral collapse” of Western powers on account of Gaza. There has always been a moral void at the heart of the Western political establishment. To be sure, the Western legacy of colonialism by European powers continues to this day. Moreover, if the intent of Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state is in order to rekindle interest in the long-defunct two-state solution, I fear that the French president is out of touch with current political developments. Israel is ramping up settlement and annexation in the West Bank. The “Greater Israel” plan is what has been happening on the ground for many years now, and the two-state solution is dead as a doornail.
'Simply Empowers the Bully': EU Leader Faces Backlash Over Trump Trade Deal
"Von der Leyen has just handed Trump the biggest victory he could hope for," said one critic. "We will all pay the price because in the process, she has strengthened him and his fascist project. Deeply depressing."
Jul 28, 2025
The leadership of the European Union on Sunday struck a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump that will leave tariffs significantly higher for many of the bloc's exports—including cars, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors—and at 50% for steel and aluminum.
News of the deal was met with sharp criticism, including from some European officials. François Bayrou, France's prime minister, wrote on social media that "it is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, gathered to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission."
Nick Dearden, director of the United Kingdom-based advocacy group Global Justice Now, warned that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen "has just handed Trump the biggest victory he could hope for."
"We will all pay the price because in the process, she has strengthened him and his fascist project. Deeply depressing," Dearden wrote, arguing that the deal "simply empowers the bully" and likely won't last.
In her statement announcing the agreement with Trump, von der Leyen suggested the deal would avert further escalations from the U.S. president and bring "stability" to markets unsettled by his erratic threats.
"Today with this deal, we are creating more predictability for our businesses," she said. "In these turbulent times, this is necessary for our companies to be able to plan and invest."
The sweeping 15% tariff on E.U. products entering the U.S. is half the rate that the president threatened to impose earlier this month, but it is far higher than the estimated 1.5% rate prior to Trump's second White House term. The E.U. is the United States' largest trading partner.
Cailin Birch, global economist at the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC that while the deal represents "a climb down from a much worse place," the 15% tariff "is still a big escalation from where we were pre-Trump 2.0."
Wolfgang Niedermark, a board member of the Federation of German Industries, called the deal "an inadequate compromise" that "will have a huge negative impact on Germany's export-oriented industry."
Trump and his team wasted no time bragging in bombastic terms about the agreement. Trump called it "probably the biggest deal ever reached in any capacity, trade or beyond trade," while the president's deputy chief of staff gushed that it is "impossible to overstate what a staggering achievement President Trump delivered for America today."
"Stephen Miller is boasting about Trump hitting us with a HUGE tax increase," responded economist Dean Baker, alluding to the fact that tariffs are often passed to consumers in the form of higher prices.
As part of the agreement, the E.U. pledged to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy over three years—including LNG and oil.
Andreas Sieber, associate director of policy and campaigns at 350.org, said in a statement Monday that "it's deeply shortsighted to see the E.U. strike a so-called 'deal' with the U.S. that locks us into expensive, polluting gas."
"Fossil gas is not only worse for the climate than coal, it comes at a higher cost," said Sieber. "This risks locking Europe into decades of fossil fuel dependence, volatile energy bills, and accelerating the wildfires and flooding already wreaking havoc across the continent. While Trump celebrates this as a win, communities on both sides of the Atlantic are suffering with deadly climate impacts."
'Toasts Not Tariffs': Critics Slam Trump's Threat of 200% Levy on EU Alcohol Products
"This is how trade wars escalate," said one observer. "Eventually you forget who fired the first shot, but the losers are consumers on both sides."
Mar 13, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slap a 200% tariff on many alcohol products made in the European Union in retaliation for a 50% levy on American whiskey and bourbon recently announced by the 27-nation bloc's executive commission.
"The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "If this tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% tariff on all wines, champagnes, and alcoholic products coming out of France and other E.U.-represented countries."
"This will be great for the wine and champagne businesses in the U.S.," added Trump, who owns a Virginia winery. Only sparkling wine from grapes grown in France's Champagne region can be called champagne under a law protecting the product origin designation.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that "we deeply regret this measure."
"Tariffs are taxes, they are bad for business and worse for consumers," she added. "They are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy."
The European Commission's move to reimpose a 50% tariffs on U.S.-made whiskey and bourbon starting April 1 was itself part of the bloc's response to Trump's 25% levy on steel and aluminum imported from the E.U., which took effect on Wednesday. Trump has also unleashed a barrage of tariffs on some of the U.S.' main trading partners including Canada, China, and Mexico, and is threatening even broader tariffs if countries don't lower trade barriers by April 2.
French Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin struck a defiant tone Thursday, accusing Trump of "escalating the trade war he chose to unleash."
"We will not give in to threats and will always protect our sectors," he added.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, an alcohol industry lobby, urged Trump "to secure a spirits agreement with the E.U. to get us back to zero-for-zero tariffs, which will create U.S. jobs and increase manufacturing and exports for the American hospitality sector."
"We want toasts not tariffs," the lobby added.
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