Of course it is. To reduce Trump’s ire, the EU should pretend to study the matter.
Trade Deal Halted
Bloomberg reports EU Halts US Trade Deal as Tariff Turmoil Creates Uncertainty
The European Union froze ratification of its US trade deal until President Donald Trump solidifies his upended tariff plans, injecting economic turbulence into an already strained relationship.
EU lawmakers on Monday suspended legislative work on approving the deal. The move came days after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s use of an emergency-powers law to impose his so-called reciprocal tariffs around the world.
“We want to have clarity about the situation,” European Parliament trade committee chair Bernd Lange said at a meeting on Monday. “We want to have clarity from the US that they are respecting the deal because that’s a crucial element.”
The fresh delay extends an already long road for the trade deal, which was reached last summer but has never been fully implemented. If the pact falls apart, it threatens to reopen a wound in a transatlantic relationship already suffering as Trump vacillates on Russia’s war in Ukraine, pushes to control Greenland and insults EU leaders.
“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” Trump wrote Monday afternoon on Truth Social. “BUYER BEWARE!!!”
Within hours of Friday’s court ruling, Trump said he would impose a 10% global tariff — which he then increased to 15% — leaving many questions unanswered for American trading partners.
Trump also said he would preserve existing duties imposed under Sections 301 and 232, and ordered the US trade representative to launch new Section 301 investigations on an accelerated timeline. Those probes require country-specific inquiries and findings of trade violations before tariffs can be imposed, and could eventually replace the baseline rate.
The remarks left it unclear how such efforts might intersect with existing trade deals.
“Full clarity on what these new developments mean for the EU-US trade relationship is the absolute minimum that is required for us as the EU to make a clear-eyed assessment to decide on the next steps,” Olof Gill, a commission spokesperson, told reporters on Monday. “More is required for us to understand the full picture here.”
The Group of Seven nations’ trade ministers also held a call Monday, where EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on X that he stressed “full respect” for the US trade deal “is paramount.” Later on Monday, EU ambassadors will meet to discuss the US trade relationship.
Even before Friday’s ruling, the US-EU trade deal had faced a rocky path to ratification.
Under the pact’s initial terms, the EU agreed to a 15% tariff rate on most of its exports to the US, while vowing to remove tariffs on American industrial goods heading into the bloc. The US also said it would keep a 50% tariff on European steel and aluminum imports.
The bloc stuck to the lopsided deal in the hopes of avoiding a full-blown trade war with Washington and retaining US security backing, particularly on Ukraine.
Seeking Full Clarity
Seeking full clarity is an excellent strategy.
There is never full clarity with Trump. So, the deal can take ages, until Trump is long gone.
Hoot of the Day
Section 122 Tariffs Are Illegal
The interterm 15 percent tariffs will soon bite the dust, deservingly so.
For discussion, please see Trump’s 15% Section 122 Tariff Retry Headed for a Supreme Court Loss Too
There are huge flaws in the Section 122 tariff idea.
Also see Trump Just Broke Every Deal with 15 Percent Tariffs, Other Countries Can Too
Bessent expects countries to honor their deals. Why should they?
Regarding trade please note Trade Deficit Surges in December, Full Year Deficit Hits a New Record
Trump’s claim of reducing the trade deficit by 78 percent dramatically blows up.
Why should any country or trade bloc negotiate in good faith a trade deal with the current U.S. administration and move to have it ratified through their legislative body when the deal goes unratified by the U.S. Congress and can be changed or cancelled with the stroke of the President’s pen? No country or trade bloc should move to ratify a trade agreement with the United States under this President that is not approved by Congress.
How many trade agreements were voted by Congress in the last administrations just this century? Is incredible that people are just now realizing how a unreliable and untrustworthy the US have been for decades, yet they still think that it’s not a Usonian feature, but a with particular to MAGA. I hate to bring this to you, but MAGA and its leader are quintessentially as Usonian as pie.
13 country-specific trade agreements have been approved by Congress since 2000. Additionally, at least four multilateral trade pacts have been passed by Congress over the same time period. Are you purposely ignorant, or have you just not been paying attention? These extorted “trade deals” that occurred last year when Trump put a gun to everyone’s head are uniquely his, and it is an utterly unserious and damaging approach to our trade partners.
And for the third time (I am really enjoying this!): as a citizen of a EU country with a substantial trade surplus with the US, I am delighted to see so many Americans so happy and eager to help us resume fully our gains, and don’t forget to reimburse us as well!
LMAO
As an American, I am laughing at our collective stupidity. Also, very grateful I have my stuff sorted in life. For those that don’t, dark, dark days lie ahead.
I am in total agreement with you, very dark days are DESERVINGLY coming for the West as a whole.
And in my case sorting my stuff meant also getting out of this dystopian, satanic, globalist hellhole.
If you mean Russia, a country that appear to be executing its own troops on the frontline you are welcome to it.
BTW, Russian wife so no axe to grind against average Russian citizen, just the psychopath’s sending young Russians to the meat grinder.
“a country that appear to be executing its own troops on the frontline”
The same country, from the same reliable sources you blindly believe (the Western MSM, at the nadir of their credibility and today believed only by the most retarded parts of the Western public), also “appears” to have run out of missiles 4 years ago, to be stealing washing machines in order to procure the microchips they use in their weapons (weapons like hypersonics which the West DOES NOT HAVE), to issue shovels to their soldiers, to have soldiers reduced to practice cannibalism on the frontline in order to survive, to have an aconomy “in tatters” and on the verge of collapsing since 4 years and to be led by a President who has died from a long list of diseases 37 times.
Are you a Brit? That would explain a lot… It’s not a coincidence that Orwell was British.
And by the way, I am going to savour every bit of the much deserved implosion of Perfidious Albion.
P.S. what does your Russian wife think about the NATO – Russia war in Ukraine? Mine, who is from the Donbas, will never forgive Putin for having waited so long to help them… (still voted for him in the last election though, as have done ALL of her relatives and friends)
Great comment!
He forgot to mention ”……my black dentist….”
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Right.
Inflation since Nixon abandoned the gold standard on average is well above 3% annually, and is purposely under measured by the government because of hedonic adjustment and substitution bullshit. The 10 cent candy bar of my youth is 2$ and smaller sized. The 25K home is 600K.
The last vestige of legal reserve and reserve ratio requirements against the Federal Reserve Note, demand deposit, and inter-bank demand deposit liabilities of the Reserve banks was eliminated in 1968
Another economic pimp hand to our economy and I the regime is wrecking our economy on purpose
Imagine the idiocy of a modern woman or man looking to the US constitution for protections against their government from locking them up or against speech or rights to arm oneself, or protect one’s bodily functions from the busy body intrusions of freaks who want to control women’s menstrual cycles and pregnancies? The level of stupidity and bootlicking is beyond my comprehension as an adult over the age of 16. how did the people get so fucking dumbed down?
As planned by the Usonian Department of Education. Remember, this is a people that until not too long ago were hiding under desks upon command for no good reason. The training has been going on for generations and now the mission is accomplished.
Grover Norquist “Starve the Beast”
Too much internet. Too much free time.
People think more sharply when there is some scarcity (e.g., food).
I know I was smarter when I was poorer :).
Fox, Tucker Carlson……… etc etc etc. It’s a long list.
Trump seems to be a deliberate Disrupter– as his main strategy ?
So now Foreign Governments must experiment with ways to respond to that ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNRYi5TDrU
The famous quote often attributed to Henry Kissinger regarding U.S. foreign policy is: “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal”. This phrase highlights the high risks or “fatal” consequences that allies may face when aligning with U.S. interests.
What did Henry say about vassals?
Lol. But I think that covers the “vassals” part.
BTW, there’s a thread on Quora or stackexchange discussing this quote. The most popular answer claims Dr Killinger was quoted out of context; that he was saying Warshington must protect the life of their (fake) leader of their (fake) gov in Vietnam in order to avoid creating that perception. But a less popular answer points out their fake leader was assassinated (by them? by someone else?) and thus proves the statement true.
I use the word “fake” because with the internet we now see how randomly Warshington picks a “president” and “government” to serve as their puppet somewhere.
You use lots of cute nicknames for stuff that detract from your intellectual points.
you ought to read kissenger’s book, “diplomacy”. given to me by a friend of mine who attended harvard with henry kissenger. my pal was no fan of his. my buddy was a lifelong classical liberal who opened free market think tanks around the globe.
Reading despicable people, even when right, can be a despicable exercise though. I mean, can anyone in their right mind or stomach manage to, say, watch a whole speech by the Agent Orange?
Trump is now playing 4 dementianal chess.
Trump lacks thinking power.He cannot play Chess or similar games.He just bullies.
Dementia chess gets easier with each level.
We can only imagine him in a game of Golf, or Chess: “You misread my Hooked Drive!” “You cannot move that Rook, you can only move the King. MY PAWNS ARE THE MOST POWERFUL and MORE POWERFUL THAN YOURS!”
Imagine cheating at the spot you play against yourself? Pitiful
A vile fellow
of a vile empire of vile people. democracy works. hat tip to plato’s republic. it’s a short book. nobody has read it, that was home schooled or public schooled it seems, to me.
I’ve read it several times. Democracy does not work according to Plato. He has Socrates argue that people are easily swayed by a demagogue and end up with a tyrant. Polybius was even less sanguine, and in his system of anacyclosis has democracy give away to ochlocracy. In the case of the United States, we are governed by agents of a foreign power that is destroying our egregore and turning us into a balkanized economic zone. The Greeks had no concept of this sort of thing.
Yes, but the people democratically chose the tyrant.
They have no choice. There is simply no way to negotiate a trade agreement with Trumpstien.
They should all get together and say, “call us when you’ve corralled your retards.”
That won’t help anyone. Trump will respond with more tariffs and embargoes until he’s shot down by SCOTUS or his next election. Huge damage worldwide. All nations trade with the US and their economies will crash when the US can’t buy. The only people to benefit are Trump’s sycophants who keep their jobs for a few more months.
However, you can’t appease a tyrant so you have to hold out till the next presidential election. As Mish says, you have to delay and study in the interim to limit your losses.
Let Trump destroy the Earth. Who can stop him anyway?
This is what happens when a President has a cabinet of sycophants. Luckily 3 of the Supreme Court justices are not. Expect more chaos. I detect a constitutional crisis incoming. The courts don’t have the enforcement tools as in their own police to stop Trump from doing anything he damn well pleases. The question of the day, will the Republican members of Congress save the Republican? Or will they go down licking Trump’s boots?
Americans may wake up and there will probably ,be a civil War .
November. Book it.
Even more interesting: will ICE and NATIONAL GUARD serve the President when he makes ILLEGAL COMMANDS to mow down everyone and anyone in his way? That is CRITICAL juncture. We may well see that moment arrive!
It will only change when the standard of living for the masses becomes unacceptably low. As long as they keep the music playing and printing money/borrowing, spoiled brat Americans will watch quietly. Just like every other empire in history
It will fail slowly for a long time, then very quickly
Unfortunately, you are correct. I think it was in Roman times the expression “bread and circuses” arose and that’s our diet today – and the last few decades. Fully understood and implemented by our betters – and not just the US.
How can anyone trust Trump in any way?
He is a total disaster.
Europe is smart enough to know that his new tariffs are not legal either. Trump of course is economically and politically illiterate…
Woowee, EU blow back to the admin’s wrecking ball disestablishment of Everything US? Meanwhile IBM fell 13% today and Blackstone, private funder of 2025 Tech and AI expansion, eclipsed its 7 April 2025 nadir valuation.
He sounds like he’s losin it….Not doing America any favors either.He might do better if he got Congress to cut spending…
He’s suing the IRS for 10 billion, and grabbed 10 billion for the “Board of Peace”.
Now how likely do you think he is to cut spending.
He is as likely to cut spending as my suddenly Growing Beautiful Female Breasts for self-admiration. I have been wishing for that for a long time.
I am hoping to become a TransTitual.
Trumpty-dumpty declaring that he (not congress) can tax whomever he likes and doing Bibi’s bidding is not instilling confidence. I have maintained that he and his friends have planned from day one to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else and the Federal Reserve Note. All according to plan, new world order, same old lies.
Generally,this type of leaders take the nation down,with them.
(OT) A “stand down” order wasn’t issued just for the Proud Boys…
“A bombshell report revealed Monday that under the first Trump administration, the FBI appeared to have issued a “stand down” order to New York Police Department investigators regarding their criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein, an order that came just five days after the disgraced financier’s arrest in 2019.”
“The revelation that the NYPD may have been ordered to halt its investigation into Epstein comes just four days after the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office revealed last Thursday that its own investigation into Epstein – with New Mexico being home to Epstein’s now-infamous Zorro Ranch – was closed in 2019 “at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.”
The sected quotes above are the 1st & last paragraphs from:
Trump’s FBI issued ‘stand down’ order on Epstein probe just days after arrest: report
that is a huge development in the story of the empire of kiddy diddlers and pederasts
A good move unless T construes it as “playing games” (reneging on commitments) & takes retaliatory action, which he is quite capable of, as day by day he grows bolder & more audacious (NF firing Susan Rice is the latest insane rampage). Reason is totally off his table & the EU biz generally needs the trans-atlantic trade more than does the U.S. altho there would be some hurty areas such as ASML photolithography machines were an embargo to take place.
b-b-But. It’s an acute national security emergency.
They’ve been ripping us off for decades, shipping product in return for dubious promises to pay, when it should be free, or rather, much more expensive, uhh, or the other thing.
Hilarious. My first LOL of my Morning here in the Southern EU, at 07:14 Lisboa Time.
Off topic but while no one is watching, AI just started eating IBM in addition to other software and cybersecurity companies.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/23/ibm-is-the-latest-ai-casualty-shares-are-tanking-on-anthropic-cobol-threat.html
International Business Machines stock is getting slammed Monday, becoming the latest perceived victim of rapidly developing AI technology, after Anthropic said its Claude Code tool could be used to modernize legacy systems that run COBOL.
love to see it.
AI Added ‘Basically Zero’ to US Economic Growth Last Year, Goldman Sachs Says
https://gizmodo.com/ai-added-basically-zero-to-us-economic-growth-last-year-goldman-sachs-says-2000725380
i’m sure you saw this. what a great documentary on AI. i personally have zero fear of AI. nor did i the internet or airplanes or autos……. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95J8yzvjbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95J8yzvjbQ
BMCC: my fear of A.I. is more rooted in WHAT IT WILL EVOLVE into with Robotic Military Actions.
Imagine a troop of 500,000 Robots, armed and ready Lazer Weapons designed to burn holes into Human Skin, causing Heads to explode or BLINDING a whole Baseball Stadium Crowd, into full submission.
A.I. is scary to me in those contexts.
well, torches of fire and gunpowder was scary too when carried out to kill other human primates, too. FYI, i married an archaelogist i’ve known since we were teens. i was in a cave in KY about 45 years ago, where the torch ashes and dried feces from thousands of years ago were still in tact………so scary.
IBM’s corporate structure turned it into a language model decades ago.
In the late 90’s the joke was IBM: Where Technology Goes to Die.
Could and will are 2 vastly different things.
The SS administration has been running on COBOL for decades. It could have modernized decades ago but actively chose not to for a lot of reasons.
It will be interesting to see if any of these legacy systems WANT to modernize (a big advantage not to is you almost are impossible to hack) and most importantly who owns the code (if IBM does they may not let Claude look at the code to replicate it).
What if this is all a big pump and dump stock scheme for the trump family and those in the know
The big pump n dump is happening in the tariff rebates where Trumps buddies were busy buying billions of tariff rebates at 30 cents on the dollar.
Trump will get his part of it via Trump/Melania coin purchases by those making big money on the rebates. Would be illegal to pay him directly but buying those crypto coins of his is a perfectly legal way to funnel ‘10% to the big guy’.
I’m sure the EU’s deals with Latin America and India will move forward though. <snark> 😛
Along with all of chinas deals with the world
No deals for the Trumpstien child, though.