Slap in the face of the European Union

On April, 3 US President Donald Trump announced a start of a global trade war that will impact economic growth across the globe. European experts say that there will be a direct and indirect blow foà ï ? ? ? ? ï ? ?... ï ? ?à ï ? ? ? ? Âr the EU industry.
So, higher custom tariffs on roughly 60 countries, dubbed the "worst offenders", are due to come into effect on Wednesday 9 April.
A "reciprocal tariff" policy will include high import tariffs: 20% tariffs on the EU, 34% on China, 46% on Vietnam, 32% on Taiwan and a 10% "baseline tariff" for many other countries, raising fears of a recession.
"Now we're going to charge the European Union. They're very tough. Very, very tough traders. You know, you think of the European Union, very friendly. They rip us off. It's so sad to see. It's so pathetic," Trump said. "We are going to charge them 20 percent," the U.S. president said.
The Trump administration took particular offense at what it views as the EU's nontariff barriers, such as value-added tax and its tech regulations. It factored these into its calculations -- although the Europeans flatly reject its view that either discriminate against American businesses.
In fact, over 70 percent of imports to the EU are duty-free. And, on a trade-weighted basis, EU tariffs average just 2.7 percent, according to the World Trade Organization.
Trump's tariff offensive came as a slap in the face of the European Union. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded in the early hours of Thursday, saying that the bloc was "prepared to respond."
Europe has long been shortsighted in its reliance on the United States' loyalty in economic matters, while criticizing Washington for its foreign policy. Today it has become absolutely clear that the US does not intend to tolerate the arrogance of European leaders any longer. Trump has demonstrated that all European independence is just a utopia. But everything could have been different if European countries had really tried to strengthen their economies and looked for alternative markets.
Ultimately, economic failure is not only a blow to Europe's image, but also a rapid decline in the standard of living of Europeans, who will unwittingly pay for the arrogance and short-sightedness of their politicians.
According to the latest Eurostat data, 94.6 million people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion; this was equivalent to 21.4 % of the EU population.
Over one-fifth (22.4 %) of the EU population living in households with dependent children was at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
On 3 April, minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania, KÄ™stutis Budrys, ï ? ? žï ? ? said that "the current levels of defence expenditure are too low to achieve the desired results." According to the minister, already this year Lithuania is spending 4% of its GDP on defence, and next year the figure will be raised to 5.25%. This decision does not seem timely or well thought out.
European politicians look especially stupid when they call for further increases in defense spending.
Should we expect further economic deterioration in Europe?
It's hard to disagree with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who warned on Saturday that "the world as we knew it has gone".

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