WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he’s threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods.

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump posted shortly after 1 a.m. on social media. “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”

  • @[email protected]
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    28 hours ago

    Putin trained the fucker well. First he poisons relationships with neighbors, then the EU. Full ongoing division tactics. Straight out of the brexit cookbook. The only thing that’s missing now is for him to pompously declare independence from the EU or smth.

  • @[email protected]
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    11 hours ago

    Donny, buddy, you can take your oil and you can take your gas and you can stick it where the sun don’t shine. Also, it sounds like no one has told you that the EU is not a country. Dumbass.

  • Aniki
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    111 hours ago

    Context/explanation: (at least that’s how i explain it to myself)

    It’s about pride. Trump doesn’t like that the “greatest of all countries” US is threatening to have an (even larger) export deficit with china in the future, so he wants to put up tariffs to slow down international trade; this way the deficit becomes a bit smaller he hopes.

    And while we’re already at it, let’s extend these tariffs to europe, just for good measure, or so

  • sircac
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    314 hours ago

    Good, let’s make it mutual, including internet services

  • Prior_Industry
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    519 hours ago

    I thought they were already considered to be in the list for tariffs.

  • @[email protected]
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    24 hours ago

    Probably influenced by the enormous amount of money oil barons spent on him, of which they almost certainly did with an expectation of return on investment.

    His desire to “Drill baby drill!” and relax restrictions on oil drilling—including drilling into a wilderness reserve previously uninterrupted by man—and his apparent distaste for EVs and green energy, makes it pretty obvious whose hand has firmly lodged itself right up his arsehole.

    The man needs oil to sell to please his owners, and belligerently trying to force the EU to increase their purchases is just another one of his hare-brained schemes.

    • @[email protected]
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      1122 hours ago

      He seems to think that a trade deficit means that the US is losing money. That’s obviously as incorrect as the idea that tariffs are paid by the country they are enacted on, rather than the country that is enacting them, but if he really does believe both of those things, his behavior makes some sense.

    • Prior_Industry
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      219 hours ago

      Don’t they risk oversupply and pushing the price down if they start up even more drilling?

  • @[email protected]
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    221 day ago

    he’s just going full Oprah with these things isn’t he?

    did someone tell him it’s a game like duck duck goose?

    tariff. tariff. tariff. tariff. tariff. tariff.

    Donald, you can’t give everyone tariffs!

    • @[email protected]
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      721 hours ago

      I wish media would call the what they are. Taxes. Trump wants to tax the American people. He is pro taxes, he wants more and more and more of them. But he wants to make sure they hit the lower and middle class, so he gives tax breaks to the rich, and then passes the cost down.

  • @[email protected]
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    522 hours ago

    Sir, yourope? That’s spelled EUROPE. OK all good? Let me know if you need anything else! Oh diaper change? Already? OK I’ll call Jason and Bobby and Fred they know how to do it. They are the bigliest experts.

  • @[email protected]
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    211 day ago

    Great. In the end, Europe and China are even closer… Voting for idiots has consequences.

    • @[email protected]
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      116 hours ago

      I hate how this race to the bottom makes China look better and better each year. Fucking China! Good job assholes! The US is getting dangerously close to becoming just as bad… Well, except for the about to be fucking poor like Russia part.

  • bufalo1973
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    171 day ago

    “Did you just said we have to build more solar power and fuck you?”

  • katy ✨
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    281 day ago

    hope everyone enjoys argentina style 200% inflation

    • Alex
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      419 hours ago

      That’s what he wants, he’s all about the bitcoin and his own versions of it.

    • Caveman
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      61 day ago

      That’s unfortunately not gonna happen since the US has the world reserve currency but it looks like he’s doing his best to change that

      • @[email protected]
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        21 hours ago

        The times when John Connally could tell European diplomats “The dollar is our currency, but your problem” are already nearly gone. The world’s currency reserves are currently at 59% US dollars, down from the year 2000’s 73%.

      • WIZARD POPE💫
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        423 hours ago

        Sadly cannot expect it to change bit it would really be funny if the reserve currency changed to something else like the € for example.

        • @[email protected]
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          14 hours ago

          We can expect it to change actually. We’ve known for decades that we’re entering another multi polar era. One of the biggest criticisms of GOP presidents since Reagan is their cavalier attitude to this fact. They keep trying to strong arm other countries like there’s no alternatives and every time they do that they generate political will to move away from the US in other countries.

        • Caveman
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          220 hours ago

          Yeah, euro is a good candidate, inflation target is 2% and is pretty stable and widely accepted. The Mercosur deal might tip the scales pretty heavily towards the euro since Latin America uses mostly USD for international transactions.

          The BRICS currency would also be a strong candidate if that ever happens.

    • @[email protected]
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      882 days ago

      Interestingly enough, his tariffs are slowly expanding to cover everyone that Putin/Russia considers an enemy, and his original plan for major tariffs on China are conveniently no longer mentioned. I’m sure there’s absolutely zero correlation of course.

      • @[email protected]
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        119 hours ago

        Any tariffs contribute to inflation, but tariffs on China will do this to the greatest visible degree possible. It’s why he backed down on that.

      • @[email protected]
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        312 days ago

        If we had anymore evidence for Trump’s sphincter hugging Putin’s wrist it would be lost in the mountains of that which already exists.

    • Riddick3001OP
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      2 days ago

      He is an efficient expert… in demolition. We should make a top 10 list. Including Putin, Bashar-Al-Assad, Musk and others.

      Edi: sorry, just realised that Putin and Al-Assad fall in another special category.