11 Comments
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Jasmine R's avatar

Finally, someone said it! Thank you so much for this, Paris. It should be front page news around the world.

Our leaders are clinging to the last scraps of the status quo instead of casting a new vision. It needs to stop, but it won't unless the people tell them to.

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Jeremy Krall's avatar

Weening off the US might be too little too late. Going cold turkey might be the only way to stop the stuffed bird in the White House.

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Andre's avatar

The whole "deal" is pointless other than dissuading the US side to set unilateral sanctions. This is no trade agreement, just a political memorandum.

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lauren's avatar

t really does feel more like a symbolic gesture than an actual deal. Almost like putting a Band-Aid on a wound that needs surgery temporary, but not a real solution

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Andre's avatar
3dEdited

The whole thing is unilateral disruptive blackmail. Only that the Us president blackmails the whole world. All based on his strangeonomics that he wants dollarisation of the world but get an even trade balance and restore manufacturing jobs. No one in economics back this.

Of course he can set his import tax that in the end the US customers would pay. The EU is not ready for trade disruptions. All the EC has was a mandate for mutual zero tariffs.

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lauren's avatar

What the US is doing feels more like drinking poison to quench thirst short-term political gains for votes and manufacturing support, but long-term it only fuels global instability. The overuse of dollar dominance doesn’t just hurt Europe; in the end, it’s also the American middle class and consumers who bear the cost. Economically, there’s no sustainability here, just more uncertainty. You’re right, it’s not a real solution but more of a political maneuver that leaves everyone else stuck in reaction mode.

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Jeremy Krall's avatar

But it isn't even working to get votes as people are feed up and approvals are dropping. It's a poison that is killing everyone involved, not just the one taking it.

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lauren's avatar

This kind of “drinking poison to quench thirst” approach doesn’t really win votes, it only makes people more disillusioned. Politically it’s meant as a shortcut, but as you said, it’s like a poison: it hurts the U.S. itself while also passing the cost onto the rest of the world. What’s even more dangerous is that this cycle erodes trust and once trust is lost, it’s much harder to rebuild than the economy itself

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Andre's avatar

What I meant was that dollarisation of the world implies a national trade balance deficit, a very convenient privilege for a lead currency country. In simplified terms the USA simply prints money and the rest of the world delivers you real goods, or in other terms: your nation imports more goods than you export.

Trump however wants to overcome the trade balance deficit (more imports than exports), and this is a logically contradictory objective.

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lauren's avatar

Your explanation makes perfect sense it really highlights the core contradiction. The privilege of dollar dominance is built on trade deficits, but at the same time, there’s this push for reshoring manufacturing and achieving trade balance. It’s like wanting to have it both ways, which only complicates things further. In the long run, this contradiction doesn’t just destabilize the global economy, it also deepens divisions within the US itself. You’re absolutely right this isn’t something economics can resolve, it’s more of a political contradiction at its core

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lauren's avatar

I’ve already sent you a message and I’m looking forward to your reply. Chatting with you feels so natural like we’ve been old friends for years, lol

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