Home Foreign Policy Trump labels Germany as ‘biggest offender’

Trump labels Germany as ‘biggest offender’

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Trump labels Germany as ‘biggest offender’

Although trade tensions have seemingly calmed between the trans-Atlantic allies since US President Donald Trump first announced plans to impose new import tariffs on European automobiles, his contempt for the bloc apparently hasn’t diminished much.

Trump recently took a swipe at the bloc, saying that it: “rips us off on trade, and we protect them with military”. While giving a speech at the conservative Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit, Trump went on to describe the EU’s trade policies toward the US as worse than China’s.

“The European Union is worse to us on trade than China… You know, a lot of us come from the European Union.  We come from Europe — our grandparents, our great-grandparents.  So you think, ‘Oh, isn’t that nice?’  Except, they kill us — the European Union.  It was formed to beat us economically, and yet we protect them with NATO”, Trump lamented.

During the rant, Trump also accused the European Union of “not paying their bills” for US military protection.

“They rip us off on trade.  They have trade barriers that make it impossible for certain groups, like farmers and others, to go in.  They rip us on trade, and then we protect them and they rip us on that too.  And they don’t pay their bills.  Other than that, it’s a wonderful deal”, he said while noting that his administration was in the process of “getting it straightened out”.

Trump went on to label Germany as the blocs “biggest offender”, criticizing it for failing to meet NATO’s 2 percent of GDP target.

“Germany doesn’t want to pay. They’re supposed to pay 2 percent. They’re paying 1 percent. And I say, ‘You got to pay, Angela.  You got to pay, Angela.  Please pay, Angela”, Trump said.

A tariff spat between the EU and the US broke out in 2018 after the Trump administration decided to impose higher taxes on steel and aluminum imports coming from the bloc. Trump later threatened in May that he would place tariffs on specific imported vehicles and parts which he said were threats to “national security”. As of now, the plan is currently on hold.

In response to Trump’s threats, the EU has revealed its own plan to counter potential US tariffs on EU cars – namely extra duties of up to 35 billion euros on US goods.

21 COMMENTS

  1. Redistribute our forward military bases. IE: those in Germany 2 Poland & Hungary. Or just let the russkies have Europe. The cost of maintaining Europestan would most likely collapse the Russian economy. Heard that Europestan has been cozing up 2 china lately, maybe they can have a try @ cleaning up europestans problems.

  2. Germany has been robbed since WW2, and now they can’t even go to work because Muslims threaten them on every level. What you’re saying sounds like more Jewish propaganda.

  3. Angela Merkel is disliked by most Germans, yet she’s been able to stay in office because her party gets just enough votes to keep her in. She has never had the country’s best interests in mind, and her policies have much to be desired, from letting Syrians in, to her oil pipeline from Russia.

  4. Eh, no he’s not a knob. He just wants debtors to pay up. Okay, take the piss if you want. But we’re having a hard Brexit for a reason. Johnson shall see to that, despite no prorogation in Parliament. I’m currently in the U.S., and I cannot believe my eyes how things have gone so Commie here since 20 years past. Anyone in the Whitehouse besides Trump would be a shoe-in for total globalisation. Trump is the firewall. Now we can argue about the merits of his stream of consciousness Twittering, but after Brexit we shall need our potent former colonial ‘daughter’ for support.

  5. Like a lot of other kids, I served in the US Army in Germany, doing a job their kids should have been doing!
    We protected them from the terrible communist threat. Don’t get me wrong, I love Germany and am of German ancestry. Face it. They did not pay then and have not paid in the almost 50 years since I served there. I make frequent trips there and mostly, they are very smug about it. Time to pay up, Fatherland!

  6. Why do we even have troops in Europe? Those countries are wealthy enough and sophisticated enough to have their own militaries. Yeah, after WWII ended, European countries needed our help to defend them against hostile forces. But WWII ended, what, 74 years ago. The EU is not being threatened by anyone now, except maybe Muslims. We should get the fuck out of Europe and use the money we spend on that to pay down our national debt.

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