Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on countries that have shown support for Greenland is pushing transatlantic relations to a breaking point as EU leaders contemplate ways of retaliating against Washington that until now have been unthinkable.
One option being floated by centrist and left-wing politicians is for Europe to wheel out its Anti-Coercion Instrument, the EU’s so-called trade “bazooka” — a powerful retaliation tool that was originally conceived to fend off bullying from China, which would allow Europe to impose tariffs and investment limits against offending nations.
French President Emmanuel Macron has joined those calling for the instrument to be deployed against the U.S.
They should start with banning US tech services, first insta/FB/Twitter/Reddit and then slowly kicking out MS/Amazon/Google and other enterprise providers.
You don’t even need to ban it. You just need to open up the marketplace to alternatives. Cory Doctrow has been pushing the idea that the best retaliation is to simply repeal anti-circumvention laws and allow companies to begin chipping away at the walled gardens of the tech giants. For example, John Deere famously puts software locks on its tractors so that even simple repairs require the owner to pay for a technician to come out and “authorize” the newly installed part or else the machine will refuse to start. This system could almost certainly be bypassed, but right now the law not only allows manufacturers to lock their tractors, it also forbids anyone else from unlocking them. If the EU simply repealed the law that bans circumvention then some clever EU citizen could legally reverse engineer the software running on those tractors and start a business selling unlocking software. They could make it a one-time purchase at 10x the cost of an official tech visit and make money hand over fist while still saving their customers time and money in the long term.
And of course it’s not just tractors. Make a third party app store for the iphone that charges half the commission of Apple. Make a tool that allows seamless account migration from Google to the independent cloud provider of your choice. A huge amount of corporate rent seeking is enabled by anti-circumvention laws.That’s a fair point, but with software platforms, I don’t think you can make a seamless migration tool without Google’s cooperation. And there a lot of roadblocks and malicious compliance type strategies that US oligarchic institutions can adopt. There is also the issue of monopoly-like network effects.
Considering their administration’s behaviour and the current course of American society, I think it’s better to make a permanent break with US. I do not think they will be able to address corruption and criminality. Even if the centre-right comes to power, it will be some variant of Obama, perhaps competent, but with zero desire to reign in corruption, oligarchs and prosecute criminals. Just like Obama refused to prosecute the financial industry oligarchs, a hypothetical centre-right leader won’t address Meta’s $16 billion raised via conscious enablement of fraud.
Then there will be another election, they’ll seed in some more propaganda about “freedom” and “destruction of America” and you’ll have JD Vance elected or perhaps someone even far worse than Vance or Trump.
To hell with that.
I’ve lived in the US for several years and travelled extensively, I feel confident in what I am saying. A large portion of American society is obsessed with ostentatious posturing about how they are the biggest supporters of “freedom” in the world (and similar self-aggrandizing polemics), that they cannot be engaged with in good faith.
Just stop respecting the DMCA!
I honestly think they believe banning US social media would create a far-right populist uprising. It’s the same “we have to treat the fascist problem with kid gloves” BS that hasn’t worked for decades now.
Sometimes it’s best to deal with an issue early rather then letting it simmer.
Not to mention they could always a implement a Fediverse based foundation (for every country) before implementing a ban. Literally re-direct instagram.com to pixelfed.nl (if you are in the Netherlands). Move all government accounts and let businesses know that it’s in their interest to setup Fedi accounts or other non-US networks (and help them with it).
Sometimes it’s best to deal with an issue early rather then letting it simmer.
No disagreement from me.
they could always a implement
FWIW, EU already has its own Mastodon instance but nobody uses it. I’m sure there’s more similar sites already waiting in the background.
This sounds amazing and I want it for the whole world.
I want that in the US!
Slovene politicians: “Is there anything else out there besides MS, Amazon, X, Facebook and Instagram?”
Oh, not only in Slovenia. And they think they’re clever because unlike the previous generation they know that social media exist.
Why haven’t we done this already, that’s my question every single day for more than a year. Clearly Mr. Tramp isn’t trustworthy but somehow our EU leaders keep ending up with his tiny peepee in their mouths
A few months ago people from German chancellor’s party CDU visited the US to get advice from Republicans.
Slovene biggest (currently opposition) very right wing party SDS is being taught by American right wingers.
Blacklist of senior US regime collaborators is also a must.
Would help if Russians were banned too.
Why bother? They can simply get their own copy of Mein Kampf.
I’m sure they own it.
Why haven’t we done this already
Becau$e.
Clearly Mr. Tramp isn’t trustworthy
Understatement of the millennium
somehow our EU leaders keep ending up with his tiny peepee in their mouths
Geopolitical bullying, blackmail, and everyone likely to achieve significant power being beholden to and thus in favor of preexisting power structures is a combination that impedes the progress of humanity as a whole IMMENSELY.
In addition to @[email protected]’s and @[email protected]’s comments, the EU is a slow behemoth. It steers like an ocean liner, and apparently the slogan “The USA our friend and partner” has been ingrained for so long it’s almost impossible to get out of the rut. Seriously, sometimes it feels like these things take on a life of their own. I mean everybody basically agrees on this one issue, from communist to (neo)libertarian, yet here we are.
Why would they want to tax themselves?
God I can’t wait for this asshole to die
https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/slt_table5.html
Japan and China hold a boatload of US Treasuries, but European countries hold a bunch, too. If they dump them all at once, the market implodes, US interest rates spike, and we’re in a world of hurt.
Yes, those countries suffer a financial hit, too, but in the long run it might be cheaper than fighting a conventional war with the US over Greenland.
Coming from ‘Merca, I wholeheartedly support this measure. If one lesson was learned from WWII, it’s that as soon as you’ve identified a bully, you have to accept that diplomacy is no longer an option. Bullies don’t understand diplomacy, and don’t respect it. All they know, or respond to, is what they perceive as strength and/or power. At a more basic level, friendship means nothing to them because it’s a foreign concept.
Intended for China, but appears to meet criteria for use.
We should be seriously considering it. Our weakness is that Trump believes that we are like teenage girls on an island.Stupid that stuff like this isn’t setup to automatically trigger when you’re threatened by invasion.
Macron talks the talk, sure. But will the EU walk the walk?
This is a risky move. The important thing is to piss off the tech bros and oil oligarchs so they turn on Trump, not on the rest of the world. That’s when this whole shit show will disappear.
It will hurt all of us American citizens but maybe it will hurt those in power who choose who the president is. We don’t get to choose the president sadly.
