Reading the news lately feels like an exercise in suspended disbelief.
For starters, the EU is not a country, no matter how many news outlets report that ten countries struck deals and list the EU alongside Pakistan, the UK, and Vietnam. I mean, seriously?
Second, the EU didn’t strike a deal. Neither did the UK nor any of the others. Essentially, all these “countries” agreed to the 15% (or whatever it is) tariff that was an outrage just a few months ago, with the argument, “It could have been 30%!”. We are being sold flatbread for pizza.
Third, it doesn’t really matter because – guess what – the ones paying for tariffs are <drumroll/> US-Americans. If the EU, UK, or any other country were to follow through with adding counter-tariffs, they would also pay. Better to sell this as a deal to their constituents and then watch the US basically shovel their own money from the left pile to the right pile and back. So in other words: They sell this to us as a win because in reality they do not want to engage. They prefer watching idiots doing idiotic things without joining.
Fourth, no one demands any concessions from Trump because no one gives anything up either. The EU, for instance, commits to buying more energy and weapons? Shocking development! Who could have predicted that? Except for Putin maybe, but hey – let’s not sweat the details, right?
What is most bizarre to me is listening to press conferences where journalists, in all seriousness, ask why so-and-so got their deal while such-and-such did not.
This is especially pronounced here in Canada, where people feel like they aren’t getting any deal when, in reality, over 90% of their goods are covered by CUSMA at the moment, resulting in Canada having the lowest rates of them all. So in a nutshell: Even Canada has no incentive to engage. We merely pretend to engage and get ready to punch if needed but prefer not to.
What did you say? I’m being to simplistic? Probably. I’m sure it is much more complex than that.
…
Yesterday I heard someone say “I understand where they (the US) are coming from. Indeed all those countries have taken advantage of them.”
Question: If you are richer than ANYONE else, where exactly is this money coming from? Could it hypothetically be that you rigged the system in your favour to benefit from everything happening around you or were people stealing from you all the time and you’re still rich because you’re just THAT GOOD?
Schrodinger’s Conservatives: Simultaneously living in the most amazing and powerful country while complaining about everything being terrible and on the brink of collapse. It is fascinating that this specific flavour of argument prevails especially in the richest countries of them all…
<rant over/>
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