Now that countries have capitulated on the prices, Trump will be back for more | Trade war

Governments came across each other to offer concessions to the American president Donald Trump while his deadline on August 1 is looming. On Sunday, the American president won his greatest victory to date, while the head of the European Union Ursula von der Leyen, as the head of a vassal state paying tribute to a emperor, went to the private golf course of Trump in Scotland to offer him a tribute.

It came in the form of a fully unilateral price pact in which Brussels accepted a huge price hike and has committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on American fossil fuels and military products.

The pact has changed the balance between two of the largest economic powers in the world. The EU just turned around without fighting. French Prime Minister François Bayrou described it as a “dark day” for the Union, while a European diplomat deplored by saying: “Those who do not find themselves together are hanged separately”.

The economic impact on the rest of the world is likely to be even worse. Trump declared the economic war against friends and enemies. Many countries face higher prices than the EU and are less able to defend itself. By yielding, Brussels has made more difficult for other countries to remain firm.

A price of 40% on Laos or 36% on Cambodia, for example, will be devastating for the export industries that US companies have encouraged them to build in recent decades. And without a united front, other countries are reluctantly arrived at the table.

Last week, Trump announced an agreement with the Philippines for 19% of prices on all goods exported to the United States and no price on imported American goods; It was not clear if Manilla had fully accepted the arrangement before the American president made him public. The agreement of Indonesia is even worse, the country forced to give up its critical mineral exports and its aspects of its emerging digital sector – which are both essential to its economic development. For Brazil, American requests go beyond the economic field, Washington going so far as to interfere in the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Although the provisions of the various trade agreements vary, they all follow the same strategy: the intimidation of governments to modify their rules and regulations in favor of the American interests of companies, in particular those of the oligarchs that surround the president.

The style of Trump’s commercial negotiations could be very erratic, but it is a clear end goal: to upset the global economic system, to replace the rules which were already unfair by the absolute domination of the biggest tyrant.

The immediate impact of this restructuring will be bad for the countries that submit to it, but it will not be the end of history. By giving Trump what he wants, they have strengthened his hand and he will be back for more.

Already, the EU has little clarity around a range of additional rates that the American president could bring and how they will affect the “contract” which was concluded. Canada has abandoned its tax on digital services on Big Tech to obtain an agreement, to be struck by higher prices. The Philippines now face a higher rate than in April, despite the concessions. And the United Kingdom thought he had an agreement on steel, only to discover it, really.

There is no equity in all of this. The only way is to resist Trump; It does not respect weakness.

At least, for countries that have signed an agreement, this means implementing as little as possible. Governments that can retaliate should do so. This does not necessarily mean the correspondence rate for the price, a policy that could inflict a serious self-harassment, but rather by using the tools that best show their strength.

The EU has enough power to contest the trade in American services and should have retaliated by limiting access to American companies, for example, to government contracts, financial markets and the protection of intellectual property.

By not taking such measures, the EU showed a deep misunderstanding of the moment we are.

But in Europe and the United States, the public has enough a global economy dominated by the company. There is no return to this world. Reprisal policies as well as those mentioned above can not only maximize the pain intended for oligarchic friends of Trump, but they can also help to relax the power of monopolies which are at the heart of our deeply unfair and unsustainable economy.

This last point is important. Because if we want Trump to be gone, as millions of Americans do, we will not get there by giving him unnecessary victories. Trump won power by building a bridge between people angry with an economy dominated by the company and the corporate barons themselves. It was an impressive feat. But the alliance will only last as long as it wins.

The question is now to know how governments can better protect their long -term economies, and this must go through the retirement of sovereignty, without putting it back to the intimate in the White House. In addition, such an action can show Trump for the company’s lobbyist, he is really and has given a path to his possible fall.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.