President Donald Trump is lashing out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni once more. Trump is insisting she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit in France and he's criticizing what he says was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war.
  • Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip
    10·
    5 days ago

    If you give an abuser what they want, they just realize their bullying works and will get worse. You have to be so much work for a narcissist that they believe it’s not worth it and will turn their attention to easier targets.

    • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
      22·
      5 days ago

      How exactly should a world leader be “too much work” for Trump?

      He will just slap a 20% tarif on your entire country because it amuses him.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
        2·
        5 days ago

        I mean, China did it, and while one European country probably couldn’t pull off what China did the whole EU absolutely could have.

        • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
          1·
          5 days ago

          LOL.

          Did what exactly?

          Their products were taxed to fuck. They’re just big enough and have enough control over constituents to ignore it.

          • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
            3·
            5 days ago

            That’s a different thing. During the tariffs debacle China was noteworthy for raising tariffs on American goods and restricting exports until Trump chickened out.

            • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
              1·
              5 days ago

              Yes. However, they still ended up having their products taxed at a much higher rate than anyone else.

              They could just ignore it because they have a very large economy. The middle powers like Italy, England, Germany, and australia just couldnt play that game.

              • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
                2·
                5 days ago

                However, they still ended up having their products taxed at a much higher rate than anyone else.

                Source? I only know about the EV tariffs, and those were coming anyway for other reasons.

                • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
                  1·
                  4 days ago

                  Sorry chief this is one of those things that’s so universally observed and understood it’s a bit ridiculous to ask for a source. The first search result says:

                  Average US tariffs on Chinese exports now stand at 47.5 percent and cover 100 percent of all goods. China’s average tariffs on US exports are at 31.9 percent and cover 100 percent of all goods. US tariffs have risen by 26.8 percentage points since the second Trump administration began on January 20, 2025. Chinese tariffs have risen by 10.7 percentage points over the same period.

                  Average US tariffs on imports from China had increased to 127.2 percent in early May 2025, before later being reduced. The second Trump administration had reached those heights by increasing tariffs on imports from China through a number of different actions, not all of which were China-specific.

                  https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2019/us-china-trade-war-tariffs-date-chart

      • Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip
        2·
        5 days ago

        That’s a good question. Good thing I’m not a world leader :S.

        Generally id assume it’s as simple as just outmaneuvering with various other levers of power. You don’t fight this narcissist directly, you make them irrelevant.

        • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
          3·
          5 days ago

          Well i guess you’d start by observing what has and hasn’t worked for other world leaders.