Great summary! That’s basically what they say. On both ballistic missiles and drones, Europe is nowhere near being able to shut down a major attack.
Of course, Europe under attack would not respond with the same forced restraint as Ukraine, that for the longest time wasn’t allowed to strike within Russia.
I fully agree with you on the current liquidity issues, and certainly on the loss of manufacturing competitiveness that comes with having reserve currency status.
My main economic concern with Trump’s policies is simply that “advanced” economies will never really be able to compete in the manufacturing field again. Trump should know - he is surrounded by the richest men in the world, and the only one that does any manufacturing at all, and only as a side gig is Musk. All the other ones only do digital and finance/investment.
I agree that Europe probably doesn’t want to get into that space at the moment. I am afraid Europe is pushed into doing a lot of things right now it didn’t and doesn’t want to do. The decision point would probably come if Trump’s tariffs are really just paused and start being enacted. Then Europe will have to massively increase its trade with other nations, which will also have to do the same thing, and then using USD becomes incredibly impractical, especially with the wild swings it is going to have if tariffs are re-enacted.
And, again, totally agreed. This will require a lot of changes, and they will be painful. It just feels like there aren’t a whole lot of alternatives.
I am confused by the article’s insistence that the Euro is not a viable alternative because it’s “one currency, 20 countries”. If anything, the sheer number of countries make sure that a single election is not going to affect financial and economic policies all that much - which is the main reason for the USD’s fall from grace right now.
The amount of trade between EU countries forces them to have an equalized exchange rate. That has been true since long before the Euro was even implemented, and the constant pressure on a particular currency that had a hard time keeping the fixed exchange rate frequently brought turmoil. If you don’t believe me, just look up Black Wednesday 1992.
The Euro is just the financial manifestation of that forced equalization. A manifestation that gives consumers greater price transparency in cross border dealings. If it really had had a major role in the rise of the far right, countries that use the Euro would have seen a greater rise than those that do not, and that really doesn’t seem to be the case.
At this point, it feels like anyone who gives up something of value for a deal with this administration is just cruisin’ for a bruisin’.