"They can't, he said. Pressed to explain, he continued: We are the pot of gold. We're the one that everybody wants. And they can retaliate, but it cannot be a successful retaliation. As Trump saw it, Europe was weak and feckless a minnow compared with the American economic juggernaut. When confronted with a US president prepared to throw his country's weight around, Europe would certainly cave."
"Having spent years in the state department designing and negotiating sanctions, I've seen how economic pressure works In the year since, Trump has repeatedly wielded America's economic might against Europe, from coercing the EU and the UK to swallow lopsided trade deals to pressuring Denmark to sell him Greenland. And time and again, his assessment of European countries that they would scurry to him, hat in hand, eager to make a deal has been vindicated."
"To survive another three years of Trump, European leaders will need a different approach. Having spent years as a state department official designing and negotiating sanctions, I've seen how economic pressure works in practice and how it can fail when the target is prepared to absorb pain and push back. India, Brazil and China have faced similar Trumpian economic coercion and managed to survive while preserving their core interests."
President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on European allies and asserted that Europe could not mount successful retaliation, calling the United States the "pot of gold." He repeatedly leveraged U.S. economic power to coerce the EU and the UK into lopsided trade deals and pressured Denmark over Greenland, and many European governments have ultimately acquiesced. Other countries such as India, Brazil and China faced similar coercion and protected core interests by combining resolve, resilience and retaliation. Europe will need to rally public support and employ those three elements to withstand future U.S. economic pressure while preserving dignity.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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