The US, outside its government agency USTR, generally doesn’t realise that in the EU, all, let me repeat, ALL trade relations are handled, indeed are managed solely by the EU Commission. No member state, not tiny Estonia nor big Germany has a separate trade regime. 1/n
This has a number of important implications for countries that trade with the EU. A. With ca. half a billion consumers it’s a huge and hence powerful market. B. The much maligned EU Commission and its “unelected bureaucrats” (you think USTR is staffed by elected officials???) are…
2/n
2/n
…brutally professional. Ask the USTR or any other government that has negotiated with them. I.e they are anything but “euroweenies”. C. They are not politicians. Their job is to defend and uphold the EU treaties, of which the common market is the most important, indeed, the EU’s backbone and... 3/n
Raison d’etre. D. Any unilateral actions against EU trade policy will be met by a range of measures that will be measured, proportional but designed to exact a maximum effect. E. While the EU has a trade surplus with the US in goods, the US enjoys a far larger surplus in services. 4/n
Meaning financial and digital services. Think X, Facebook et al, that already violate EU privacy and online harms monitoring. Nor do these companies pay taxes to the EU countries where they make most of their profits. Taking all the above into consideration, a US trade war against the EU… 5/
… means taking on an unnecessary adversary in an unnecessary dispute with an economically powerful entity hardly lacking in highly skilled and motivated actors defending not only their interests but their foundational laws. Break out the popcorn.🍿 6/fin
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