No deal with Trump: Von der Leyen's negotiation tactics have failed
When US President Trump launched his trade war in April, he wanted to impose a 20 percent tariff on the EU. Now it's 30 percent – the Europeans have failed across the board.
Just think about it: you enter into negotiations, spend three months looking for a deal – and end up with a worse result than you started with, in the same weight class as Mexico!
This is precisely the feat achieved by EU Commission President von der Leyen and her team (led by her cabinet chief Seibert). They wanted to reduce all tariffs to zero, had already settled for 10 percent – and ended up with 30!
And that's not even the worst of it. In the meantime, the Europeans have made every possible and impossible concession to appease Trump.
At the forefront is Chancellor Merz, who, without necessity and without consultation, swallowed the increase in military spending to five per cent of GDP in order to keep the peace on the NATO front.
Meanwhile, his party colleague von der Leyen innocently offered her ‘transatlantic partner’ Trump more gas and arms purchases in the US – in addition to other concessions that have been kept secret until now.
She also withdrew a counter-tariff on steel and aluminium that had already been finalised and approved by the EU. Anyone who ‘negotiates’ in such a weak and unprincipled manner will not get a deal, but a (unfortunately deserved) slap in the face!
The original post (in German) is here