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.
  • 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