Source: Li Jianqiu’s World (ID: lijianqiudeshijie)
Makron’s visit to the United States this time is shouldering an important task, namely, lobbying the United States to at least relax the restrictions on EU enterprises and give up the requirement of “Made in America” in the new climate law of the United States. The European Union said that these provisions discriminate against EU electric vehicle manufacturers and other clean industries, increasing the risk of a transatlantic trade war.
It can be said that Ma Kelong’s visit to the United States is bound to fail. Biden said something nice to save face.
Don’t give face, then
If the United States is expected to modify green energy subsidies, the failure of this visit to the United States has been decided before the visit.
A bill was introduced in the United States. From the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans tore each other apart. Finally, they tore each other apart. When they reached the Senate, they continued to tear. It was dark and dark. It was not easy to reach a compromise. They submitted it to the President for signature, and the President signed it into effect.
Makron expects to go to the United States to change the bill?
Matthew Kanichinig, the head of Politico’s German office and the former president of the German branch of the Wall Street Journal, even wrote an article humiliating Europe in a naked way. The article is as follows:
The European Anti American Itch
The Europeans can only blame themselves for their industrial and strategic failures
BERLIN – The weather in Europe is getting colder, the economy is in trouble, and the local people are becoming more and more restless. There is only one answer: blame the United States.
For a long time, when the situation on the European continent began to become difficult, pointing to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean has been the favorite distraction strategy of European political elites.
Whether it is the war in Ukraine (Washington should not expand NATO), natural disasters (too many American SUVs contribute to climate change) or the demise of French as a common language (Hollywood without culture), the United States is inevitably the culprit.
In the latest version of this tedious tradition, European officials are trying to blame the current difficulties of the European continent on greedy Americans, accusing them of putting a strong dollar above everything, and even taking advantage of the war in Ukraine.
“The fact is, if you look calmly, the country that gains the most from this war is the United States, because they sell more natural gas at higher prices, and they sell more weapons,” a senior European official complained to my Politico colleague last week.
However, the quality of this anonymous accuser is not sober.
Apart from the fact that Ukraine would have collapsed a few months ago if the United States had not intervened, the direct impact of the Russian war on the natural gas and arms sales of the US $26 trillion economy is just a drop in the bucket.
First, the United States exports less than 10 per cent of its natural gas production.
In 2021, these exports will be worth about $27 billion. Although Europeans are understandably upset that their natural gas price is four times that of the United States, no one asks them to rely on Russian natural gas or close well functioning nuclear power plants (in fact, Washington told them not to do so for many years).
The accusation of acquiring war profits from weapons is equally hollow. Most of the US military assistance of about US $30 billion to Ukraine so far has been donated.
Although U.S. defense contractors can benefit from replacing stockpiles and from the greater demand for weapons from NATO allies, so should their European counterparts.
But here’s the problem: European companies should benefit as much as Americans, but they don’t. The main reason is that Europe has insufficient investment in its defense industry.
For example, Germany recently decided to buy the F-35 fighter aircraft from the United States for the simple reason that there is no substitute in Europe. France, Germany and Spain formulated a plan to develop the “Future Combat Aviation System” in 2001, but it has not yet started in the ongoing internal strife.
The political resistance of several European countries to arms exports has further hampered the arms industry in the region.
Take the Leopard 2 main battle tank made in Germany as an example. Many people think it is the best in the world. Despite this reputation, when Poland, a NATO ally, recently ordered nearly 1000 new tanks, the Germans lost to South Korea. Although price is one factor, political uncertainty is another. According to a person familiar with the decision, Berlin decided to prevent the sale of retired infantry combat vehicles and combat tanks to Ukraine.
The main problem in Europe when talking about the United States these days involves a set of green subsidies introduced by the Biden government, which are beneficial to American companies.
One of the top priorities of French President Emmanuel Makron during his state visit to Washington this week will be to downplay the provisions of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is a comprehensive legislative initiative covering from climate to health. European officials described it as a copy of the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, which was introduced by Washington in 1930 and historians accused it of exacerbating the Great Depression.
Europeans fear that generous “Made in America” subsidies will damage their industries and threaten to wage a trade war.
However, it is a fact that it is very difficult for Europeans to let their companies invest in China, because the government pays more attention to subsidies for household gas bills than to help the industry in the region survive the crisis.
“Europe has no cost competitiveness in many areas, especially in the cost of electricity and natural gas,” Thomas Schafer, the head of the Volkswagen brand, wrote on social media attacking Europe’s industrial policies.
“He said:” If we cannot successfully reduce the energy prices in Germany and Europe rapidly, then the investment in energy intensive production in Germany and the entire EU or in new battery plants will no longer be feasible.
Nevertheless, the government in Berlin asked quarterly what these naiveties are hindering the German economy, and the answer is clear.
“The United States is pursuing a large-scale industrial policy with protectionist tendencies,” German Prime Minister Schultz’s Social Democratic Party co leader Lars Klinberg told Le Monde last week. “American economic policy should not be directed against us Europeans.”
The sad reality is that the Biden government may not have considered Europe at all when deciding to provide subsidies.
This fact alone should shock Europeans.
The problem is not that Europe is not important to the United States, but that it is not as important as Europeans would like to believe.
When it comes to innovation, Europe is a desert. There is no Apple, Google or Tesla in Europe. In fact, Tesla’s market value is four times higher than that of the entire German automobile industry.
This is why it is difficult not to conclude that the blame game in Europe is actually due to something else – jealousy.
Despite political differences, the United States has never been so strong in terms of its military or economic strength.
At the same time, Europe’s dependence on the United States has exceeded the level since the Cold War, which has intensified people’s resentment and criticism.
In Germany, there is a book called “Ami, it’s time to go!” Books. (Ami is German slang for Americans) has become a best seller. The writer is Oscar LaFontaine, a former finance minister who led the Social Democratic Party before breaking away from it.
LaFontaine wrote: “We must liberate ourselves from the guardianship of the United States.” He described the United States as the most evil source and believed that Europe needed to open its own path.
From the perspective of the past century, Europeans are wise to ignore him. They can only blame themselves for their current depression.
To tell the truth, I read this article very well. In this era, someone must come out and tell the truth: EU, you are a waste, you are a waste.
The EU has very few things to play games with the United States. There are only two that can be said. One is for American Internet companies, and the other is to play games with China.
The last victim?
Of course, the EU still has a lot of strength after all. After all, it has a large population, a large market and a high GDP. If it is not fragmented, nominal self insurance can still be achieved. When the EU and the United States are torn, Britain is stunned.
When US Commerce Secretary Gina Raymond visited London in early October, British Trade Secretary Badenoch urged her to reconsider this strategy. At the beginning of November, the British Trade Secretary put forward his own appeal to the United States in a series of private meetings.
The British cabinet minister published an article at Cato Research Institute, saying that a large number of new tax credits for electric vehicles not only prevented British made vehicles from entering the American market, but also affected British manufacturers from manufacturing vehicles in the United States.
At the same time, the Association of British Automobile Manufacturers and Traders, as well as Jaguar Land Rover, have expressed their concern that the United States has created an unbalanced competitive environment, and British manufacturers and suppliers may be punished.
However, if the EU issues the same laws as the United States to provide subsidies and tax relief to the EU against the United States, the United Kingdom will be caught between Europe and the United States, unable to move.
However, the UK’s pension fund was so thunderous some time ago that it could not afford any subsidy at all. Now, looking back, BMW’s MINI factory in the UK is the most correct move to China.
It’s already like this. Sunak dares to speak loudly to China – you don’t know where he got the courage.
David Hennig, a trade expert at the think-tank of the European Center for International Politics and Economy, suggested that the UK “unite Japan and South Korea and express its dissatisfaction with the US policy”.
Expect Japan and South Korea to express their dissatisfaction with the United States, not to mention whether Japan and South Korea have the courage. Even if they do, does Biden care?
Look back at the trade war
Let’s look back at the trade war since the Trump period. What is its core?
Is it just the hegemony between China and the United States?
No, it is actually a precursor of globalization to regionalization. When Trump was engaged in protectionism, the Democratic Party strongly condemned it, while the Democratic Party itself also engaged in protectionism after taking office, which shows that protectionism is inevitable and inevitable.
If the trade war in those years was really caused by different values, as some people said, then the values of Europe and the United States were so different?
After the translation article was published, I went to see what the Europeans on Reddit said:
The biggest problem in our Europe is that all our “leaders” are traitorous scum. They are busy accepting orders from Washington and do not remember who they should serve. They would rather let us freeze to death than grow a backbone and pursue the best interests of the people. The only reason why Russia and China have become our “enemies” is because the American father asked us to do so. If we had worked with them instead of imposing sanctions and confronting them, we could have achieved so much.
They have ceded our industry and political institutions to the United States, and they hope that we will be grateful for this. Fuck him.