After 25 Years, EU Stumbles Over Attempts To Bypass Trump’s World Order Or Something

I had no idea Trump was president in 2000

Europe stumbles in its attempt to bypass Trump’s world order

Ursula von der Leyen was supposed to sign the European Union’s largest free-trade agreement on Saturday, proving the bloc’s standing as a geoeconomic force.

Instead, the European Commission president will have to figure out a way to salvage the Mercosur pact by rallying last-minute support from countries including Italy that helped delay the deal — yet again — over concerns it would hurt domestic farming sectors.

Negotiations on the trade accord — with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay — have been drawn out over 25 years, rankling the South American countries. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said earlier this week the time was now or never.

And somehow this now involves Trump? If it takes 25 years to get close to a deal, maybe perhaps possibly there was a vast bit of stumbling going on that has nothing to do with Trump?

The ongoing failure to ratify the accord is a blow for the EU, which wants to use the transatlantic agreement as evidence that it could be a global power. It especially wants to prove it can move outside the orbit of China and the US, which have increasingly antagonistic trade relationships with Europe.

“This is Europe’s independence moment,” von der Leyen said earlier this week, ahead of a summit when EU leaders would tackle funding options for Ukraine as well as Mercosur.

Um, let’s be honest, does the EU produce the amount of goods that China and the U.S. do? Is there really any true competition?

The EU views China as both an economic competitor and a systemic rival and has been navigating an escalating trade confrontation that’s seen both sides impose tariffs on the other’s imports. Earlier this year, Beijing announced plans to tighten controls on its exports of rare earths and other critical materials, showing the EU how vulnerable its industries are.

Huh. I guess tariffs are only bad when Trump imposes them

The EU-Mercosur trade pact could help Europe escape its souring dynamics with the US and China. The pact would create an integrated market of 780 million consumers, gradually erase tariffs on goods including cars and give Europe easier access to Mercosur’s vast agricultural industry and resources.

OK, well, where are the smartphones, computers, all sorts of technology stuff, and tons of other goods coming from? Not from the EU or Mercosur.

Failure to secure the Mercosur partnership “would certainly be a blunder of epic proportions for Europe’s ambitions to position itself as a relevant player on the global economic scene,” said Agathe Demarais, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

It’s been 25 years. We’ve moved beyond blunder, but, I’m sure it’s Trump’s fault

For now, the EU has been unable to find the majority support needed for passage, mostly due to deep-seated anxieties that the new trade dynamics would merely undercut Europe’s agriculture sector. During a summit Thursday in Brussels, EU leaders faced down thousands of protesting farmers setting tires ablaze and dumping potatoes in the streets.

Basically, the EU is going to screw their farmers. Again.

The South American bloc wants to conclude an agreement with the United Arab Emirates, and is exploring possible partnerships with Canada, the UK and Japan. The EU, for its part, is trying to close a deal with India, which is also almost two decades in the making.

“If the EU wants to remain credible in global trade policy, decisions must be made now,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on his way into the summit in Brussels.

“Now”. Good grief.