President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to add the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he'll place tariffs on — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he’s threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods.

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump posted shortly after 1 a.m. on social media. “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”

  • swampwitch@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 hours ago

    Probably influenced by the enormous amount of money oil barons spent on him, of which they almost certainly did with an expectation of return on investment.

    His desire to “Drill baby drill!” and relax restrictions on oil drilling—including drilling into a wilderness reserve previously uninterrupted by man—and his apparent distaste for EVs and green energy, makes it pretty obvious whose hand has firmly lodged itself right up his arsehole.

    The man needs oil to sell to please his owners, and belligerently trying to force the EU to increase their purchases is just another one of his hare-brained schemes.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      He seems to think that a trade deficit means that the US is losing money. That’s obviously as incorrect as the idea that tariffs are paid by the country they are enacted on, rather than the country that is enacting them, but if he really does believe both of those things, his behavior makes some sense.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    1 hour ago

    Sir, yourope? That’s spelled EUROPE. OK all good? Let me know if you need anything else! Oh diaper change? Already? OK I’ll call Jason and Bobby and Fred they know how to do it. They are the bigliest experts.

  • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    8 hours ago

    he’s just going full Oprah with these things isn’t he?

    did someone tell him it’s a game like duck duck goose?

    tariff. tariff. tariff. tariff. tariff. tariff.

    Donald, you can’t give everyone tariffs!

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      40 minutes ago

      I wish media would call the what they are. Taxes. Trump wants to tax the American people. He is pro taxes, he wants more and more and more of them. But he wants to make sure they hit the lower and middle class, so he gives tax breaks to the rich, and then passes the cost down.

    • realitista@lemm.eeEnglish
      8·
      8 hours ago

      Yes, it seems that if he has his way, the whole world will have to unite against the USA.

    • Caveman@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      5 hours ago

      That’s unfortunately not gonna happen since the US has the world reserve currency but it looks like he’s doing his best to change that

      • TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        31 minutes ago

        The times when John Connally could tell European diplomats “The dollar is our currency, but your problem” are already nearly gone. The world’s currency reserves are currently at 59% US dollars, down from the year 2000’s 73%.

      • WIZARD POPE💫@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        3 hours ago

        Sadly cannot expect it to change bit it would really be funny if the reserve currency changed to something else like the € for example.

  • Naich@lemmings.worldEnglish
    74·
    19 hours ago

    OK. The rest of the world can forget the US for the next 4 years. We’ll see you guys in 2029 if there’s anything left.

  • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
    82·
    20 hours ago

    He has found an efficient way to damage every economy and the planet at the same time.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      74·
      20 hours ago

      Interestingly enough, his tariffs are slowly expanding to cover everyone that Putin/Russia considers an enemy, and his original plan for major tariffs on China are conveniently no longer mentioned. I’m sure there’s absolutely zero correlation of course.

      • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        26·
        19 hours ago

        If we had anymore evidence for Trump’s sphincter hugging Putin’s wrist it would be lost in the mountains of that which already exists.

    • Riddick3001@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      8·
      20 hours ago

      He is an efficient expert… in demolition. We should make a top 10 list. Including Putin, Bashar-Al-Assad, Musk and others.

      Edi: sorry, just realised that Putin and Al-Assad fall in another special category.

  • 9point6@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    20 hours ago

    Interesting he’s had the idea to force the world to become less dependent on trade with the US

    Kinda thought of all things he wouldn’t want to risk reducing the value of the dollar like that

    Edit: won’t this also make the prospect of moving more global businesses abroad more appealing?

  • Dragomus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    19 hours ago

    I’d say “dew it”!

    Let’s see if your top-secret-paperwork dumpsite mar-a-lago can pay for it’s flowers and Gouda cheese selections… And how long 'till it will serve domestic boxed Florida Swamp wine and “bubbles” since Italy or France won’t ship anymore.

    In his mind it’s a trade deficit that the EU refuses to buy the US’ chlorine drowned chickens, or make their own coca cola without corn syrup…

    • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      18 hours ago

      So, not to detract from your overall point, but apparently there’s functionally no difference between soda sweetened with sugar and corn syrup. The reason why is after a month or so of sitting on the shelf the acidity of a carbonated drink has converted all the sucrose (table sugar) into a 50/50 mix of glucose and fructose. Corn syrup is a 45/55 mix of glucose and fructose.

      So while a corn syrup sweetened coke would have ~5% more fructose than one sweetened by sugar, the difference is so minuscule as to be effectively identical. In other contexts (such as in baked goods, candies, or non-carbonated drinks) there is a difference between using sugar and corn syrup, it’s just in the specific case of carbonated drinks that it doesn’t matter.

      • rammer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        61·
        9 hours ago

        Other than, you know, taste. People can tell the difference in blind taste tests. And most people prefer the sugar sweetened version. It’s just that in the US the corn lobby will not give you the option to choose anything else.

        • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13·
          7 hours ago

          You actually can’t taste a difference. The taste tests are between so called Mexican coke and US coke, but it’s not apples to apples. Mexican coke is a different formula which is why it tastes different, it’s not just corn syrup replaced with sugar. For instance Mexican coke has less than half the sodium of US coke. People prefer the Mexican formula, not the sugar.

          Edit: for comparison here’s the nutrition label of Mexican coke and US coke. Notice the sodium and carbohydrate quantities. The formulas are different, it’s like comparing Sprite and Sierra Mist, they’re a similar flavor but ultimately different.

          You can also just watch this: https://youtu.be/NY66qpMFOYo

          It explains all of this and debunks every possible argument for why sugar might be better than corn syrup in soda.

        • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          7 hours ago

          I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. None of this is based on anything claimed by the corn industry but rather on a series of studies that were done (technically one paper followed by a paper by a different group refuting that paper due to it overlooking an important detail).

          For a pretty good explanation of all of this check this video out: https://youtu.be/NY66qpMFOYo