Donald Trump and His Messy Version of Montesquieu's 'Doux Commerce'
The president of the United States has once again changed the rules of the game when it comes to dealing with Europe.
'We now find ourselves in the situation of a player who realizes with astonishment that his partner's hand is giving him face cards he has never seen before and that the rules of the game are changing with each move.'
Nearly a century after these lines were written by French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry in Regards sur le monde actuel ('Reflections on the World Today'), Europe is once again experiencing this feeling of disorientation. With each of his moves, Donald Trump seems to be changing the rules of the trade negotiation game.
On July 12 — three days after the fateful July 9 deadline, which had already been extended by 90 days, and on which nothing happened in the end — the U.S. president sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, announcing the increase in customs duties on exports from the Old Continent to 30%, starting Aug. 1. [A new agreement, reached on July 27, includes establishing a 15% tariff on European exports to the U.S. EU steel and aluminium…
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