The joke was already making the rounds among diplomats during his first term: Negotiating with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is like playing chess with a pigeon. The bird furiously flaps its wings, knocks over all the pieces while cooing with delight, then defecates on the board and says, “I won!” In reality, Trump has lost a lot at this game.
When facing down China, which Trump threatened with a tariff apocalypse, or the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, whom he tried to destabilize, Trump merely flapped his wings wildly, but it made no difference. And when he “wins” – which does happen – it is at the cost of indescribable chaos that affects everyone. That is how, at the end of June, Trump shattered a jewel of multilateralism: the global minimum tax on multinational profits, the result of the broadest international tax agreement ever reached.
In October 2021, for the first time, this agreement put a stop to the global race to the bottom in corporate taxation, which for decades had undermined state revenues and exacerbated inequality. More than 130 countries agreed to a minimum tax of 15% on large corporate profits. Admittedly, the rate remained modest; admittedly, exemptions weakened the measure. But at least, under the leadership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20, an agreement finally made it possible to stand up to large corporations.
One would think these world leaders had already learned this from their mothers and fathers about bullies. I guess not. When the money is threatened, what little backbone they have just slides right down out of their buttholes.
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Yeah, pull a China and say, we’re immediately on putting a 1000% tariffs on any American products. This will functionally stop any trade between our nations. Trump can retailiate with a higher one, but it would just be pointless dick waving. We’re fine with waiting until an intelligent and capable person is able to negotiate a trade deal with the EU on behalf of the USA.
No, just put a large import tax on their services, and watch European ones proliferate. If ads are 50% more expensive on google and Facebook, the ROI is terrible and nobody used them. Advertisers will choose European alternatives instead, channelling money back to journalism and European search alternatives. Now is the ideal time as Google is becoming worse for search.