These days, in response to the trade friction with the EU, we have introduced a series of countermeasures, from pork products to dairy products, all legal rights protection, imposing anti-dumping and countervailing duties on EU companies. After being hit by China, the EU naturally wants to retaliate, but before they could act, Trump's slap has already landed on their face. This is the current EU, taking punches in circles in front of China, the US, and Russia. Many times, we also can't understand, the so-called "birthplace of Western civilization," elected politicians based on so-called "systemic advantages," are this level?

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen

First, let's talk about the Sino-EU trade disputes. The root cause dates back to 2024, when the EU, under the instructions of the Biden administration, imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. At that time, the German government was against it, but President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and French President Macron pushed through the relevant legislation. Ms. von der Leyen is a Democrat, and her tough stance towards China is understandable. Macron's actions against China, however, were due to the fact that France does not make money from the automotive industry; he thought this bill would both threaten China and weaken Germany, a win-win situation.

Trying such small tricks against China, Macron chose the wrong side. We immediately launched an anti-dumping investigation into French brandy, followed by pork products and dairy products. In comparison, Spain has a good relationship with China, so we left some room for our countermeasures on pork products, setting a low tax rate. However, for dairy products and brandy, we really hit hard, causing heavy losses to the French industry.

French President Macron

After more than a year of confrontation, the one who started the trouble, France, suffered the most severe losses, which is like getting what you asked for. Recently, Macron specially went to China to plead, but we didn't give him any face. Now, Macron is very dissatisfied and demands the EU take action to retaliate against China, but the EU did not respond at all. Other member states also looked at France's plight with a mocking attitude. German media even published an article mocking Macron, saying he had "betrayed" the EU on the issue of seizing Russian sovereign assets.

Of course, normally, the EU will respond to our countermeasures, but before von der Leyen could say anything, Trump acted. On local time the 23rd, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions against five European citizens, refusing to issue them visas. The reason given was that these people's actions directly violated American sovereignty. The State Department's order received direct authorization from the White House.

U.S. Secretary of State Rubio

This statement made it seem as if these people had launched a special military operation against the United States. When checked, it turned out that they were all behind-the-scenes actors pushing for various tech regulatory measures in the EU in recent years. Among them, Thibaut Breton, the former EU Internal Market Commissioner and a Frenchman, was the most well-known. This gentleman was in charge of the introduction of the "European Digital Services Act", whose core content was to conduct content reviews and regulation on American tech companies, especially social media platforms.

Under the supervision of this law, many American tech companies were required to delete certain specific content or were forced to pay huge fines. Europeans refer to this as "defending digital sovereignty", but in reality, it is a trade protection measure where European tech companies couldn't compete with American ones, and the government intervened to support them. In recent years, the EU has repeatedly fined American tech companies, with amounts reaching tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars.

Breton was behind the huge fine against Musk

The EU was happy to collect the money, but on the other side of the Atlantic, Trump was furious. He stated that these actions were restricting American freedom of speech, a sanction by some "ideological figures" in Europe against American views. Also, they stole the money of American companies. At the beginning of this month, the EU issued a $140 million huge fine against Elon Musk. U.S. Secretary of State Rubio described it as an attack by a foreign government on all Americans.

Saying things this way shows that the U.S. is really prepared to throw the table. This battle over digital sovereignty is essentially the same as the Sino-EU trade disputes, both of which are non-tariff barriers created by politicians after the EU's relevant industries lost competitiveness. We have reason to believe that if the EU had a competitive advantage in the economy and technology fields, they would not have introduced these trade protection measures, but rather would have demanded us to open up the market.

EU politicians' abilities are hard to put into words

Unfortunately, the EU is currently going through a period of economic and technological decline, and being beaten by China, the US, and Russia is unavoidable.



Original: toutiao.com/article/7587596045678903860/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.