European Union Submits to Trump’s Demands on Trade; ‘Conservative Experts’ Wrong Again
Peter D'Abrosca
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Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump struck a deal with the European Union to rework the lopsided trade deals that have hurt the United States economy for decades.
“This was a very big day for free and fair trade,” Trump said in a Rose Garden press conference with European Commission President Jean-Clause Juncker.
He echoed the same sentiment on Twitter.
“Great to be back on track with the European Union,” he said. “This was a big day for free and fair trade!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1022285656637300736
Under the new agreement, all tariffs and trade barriers will be abolished, and subsidies on non-auto industrial goods will be eliminated.
The deal is nearly exactly what Trump demanded in a Tweet from Tuesday.
“The European Union is coming to Washington tomorrow to negotiate a deal on Trade,” he said. “I have an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies! That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready – but they won’t!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1021909900941815809
In addition, the EU will import more U.S. soybeans and liquified gas.
Still, Trump’s detractors are not impressed.
“On the bright side, there is a clear de-escalation of rhetoric and that’s good, but the devil will be in the details,” Scott Lincicome, scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute told Weekly Standard. “And this provides almost no details. Meanwhile, all the tariffs implemented so far remain in force.”
If the “experts” at D.C. think tanks and “true conservatives” like Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard are so brilliant, why are we in this mess in the first place? Where have they been over the past four decades wile America got ripped off by the rest of the world?
Likewise, #NeverTrump pundit Ben Shapiro, a true dumb person’s “smart person,” predicted on March 1 that Trump’s tariffs would “likely launch a trade war”:
In the past 48 hrs. Trump has suggested:
(1) removing Second Amendment rights without due process;
(2) a massive tariff that would likely launch a trade war;
(3) the death penalty for drug dealers.
That ain’t good.— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 1, 2018
That never happened.
Not to worry though, Shapiro re-assured us that the zero-tariff agreement was “good Trump” on Wednesday, completely ignoring the fact that implementing the tariffs brought the EU to the negotiating table in the first place. (I’m sure Trump is relieved to have Shapiro’s approval).
Good Trump https://t.co/rKy1y1IDFj
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 25, 2018
Shapiro, supposed proponent of free markets, never once criticized the EU for the massive tariffs placed on American goods.
Once again, the Trump-controlled GOP wins, and his detractors are left looking foolish.
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