EU Trade Threat: Paris Climate Ratification in All Future Trade Deals

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

The EU has directly threatened the USA and all other countries which don’t embrace the “voluntary” Paris Agreement, by insisting ratification of the Paris Agreement be a mandatory clause in all future EU trade deals. But history suggests this is an empty threat.

EU to refuse to sign trade deals with countries that don’t ratify Paris climate change accord

Jon Stone

Monday 12 February 2018 15:00 GMT

Trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom says Paris clause ‘needed in all EU trade agreements’

The European Union will refuse to sign trade deals with countries that do not ratify the Paris climate change agreement and take steps to combat global warming, under a new Brussels policy.

Cecilia Malmstrom‏, the EU’s trade chief, said a binding reference to the Paris agreement would be “needed in all EU trade agreements” from now on, noting that it had been included in a deal with Japan.

She said upcoming deals with Mexico and the South American trade bloc Mercosur would also include the clause.

European Commission spokesperson confirmed that the new EU policy would also apply to a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK – meaning Britain would risk its trade deal with the bloc were it ever to try to back out of the accord.

The move effectively means the 500-million-citizen bloc is throwing its trade might behind tackling climate change.

But the policy also means a future trade deal with the US as long as Donald Trump is in office is off the table for now. The US President has indicated that he will not sign up to the deal to cut greenhouse emissions and has said he wants to renegotiate it – a plan most other countries, including the UK, have rejected.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eu-trade-deal-paris-climate-change-accord-agreement-cecilia-malmstr-m-a8206806.html

The EU directly named the USA in a statement a few days ago;

EU Tells Trump: No Paris Climate Deal, No Free Trade

Dave Keating , CONTRIBUTOR

FEB 8, 2018

When Donald Trump took office last year, the assumption was that the transatlantic trade and investment partnership was dead.

The controversial free trade deal between the EU and the U.S., known as TTIP, was already years in development and was a big focus in Europe, particularly with left-wing protesters who said the EU would necessarily have to lower its environmental, health and safety standards to American levels. When Trump was elected on an anti-free-trade platform in 2016, these activists found themselves in the uncomfortable position of being on the same side as the new U.S. president.

It is in this context that France’s foreign affairs minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told the French Parliament last week that his country will insist that TTIP never be revived if Trump carries through on his promise to leave the Paris Agreement.

“One of our main demands is that any country who signs a trade agreement with EU should implement the Paris Agreement on the ground,” Lemoyne said. “No Paris Agreement, no trade agreement. The U.S. knows what to expect.

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davekeating/2018/02/08/eu-tells-trump-no-paris-climate-deal-no-free-trade/#60e70d6737c7

The USA currently has a $184 billion / year trade deficit with the EU.

This isn’t the first time the EU has tried using terms of trade to bully other countries into complying with their green demands. Last time it didn’t work out well for the EU.

EU aircraft carbon emissions tax crashes and burns

Anthony Watts / November 12, 2012

From the BBC comes this bit of good news:

EU suspends aircraft emissions trading rules

The European Union has agreed to suspend its rules that require airlines flying to and from airports in the EU to pay for their carbon emissions.

The rules had been unpopular with countries outside Europe such as the US, China and India.

Climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she had proposed “stopping the clock for one year”.

Read more: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/12/aircraft-carbon-emissions-tax-crashes-and-burns/

The EU block likes to pretend they are powerful, but the reality is the EU is falling behind in terms of their importance to global trade. Decades of high taxes and business unfriendly domestic policies have taken their toll.

Like any bully the EU has a track record of rapidly backing down when anyone stands up to them.

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MarkW
February 12, 2018 4:16 pm

The EU is becoming irrelevant in terms of international trade.
This will just make it more so.

NME666
Reply to  MarkW
February 12, 2018 4:32 pm

and the USA should pull out of NATO:-)))

Reply to  NME666
February 12, 2018 8:12 pm

Indeed. Let them suck eggs.

Bill5150
Reply to  NME666
February 12, 2018 8:16 pm

A1, 666, I have been saying this for a year. Trump should drop NATO and the UN and get together with the Eastern European countries who are being threatened by the West and that are struggling to keep the middle eastern vermin out. This would have to inc. Russia. Do you think for a moment Putin wouldn’t absolutely love it? He has made several overtures to Trump along these lines which for obvious political reasons Trump has had to ignore so far. I am positive this would be well received by those countries, add England, Australia and other like minded nations that value the freedom to vote and all other freedoms. And tell the bloody Euro scum to fuck off.
Wishful thinking I know, 666s idea of threatening to withdraw NATO will do the trick for now, but the strategic opportunities right now are monumental and those other Eastern countries should be looked out for by the US as Merkel and Jupiter are outspoken in their desire to destroy their beautiful unique countries the same way they did their own….now is the time to act. Later will be too late.
Trump also needs to get on and begin the coming investigation into the “Pausebuster Paper” fraud, where Obama knowingly took a fraudulent NOAA paper to the French climate fiasco to prove the existence of GW and deny the pause. I know you guys are across that one. All the Nations who signed this paper are complicit or unwitting perpetuators of the greatest fraud in human history, and if they don’t know…is that a legal defense when the shit hits the fan? And any deal made as am result of a fraud…is fraud. And completely illegal.
Trump has mind-blowing patience and this is a large part of why he is the last man standing always…however, I’m really getting the shits with the whole thing! Who’s with me?

Y. Knott
Reply to  NME666
February 13, 2018 10:07 am

Sorry guys – NATO is a good thing. Remember the Cold War? And how it started? And how it ended not with a bang, but with a whimper – and the whimper was theirs, not ours? As one who would’ve been marched-off to WW3 and certainly not come back, I kinda’ like the result – and it happened that way only because of NATO, and the U.S. being its biggest member { – sleazy double-entendre there, if you wish 😉

Tom O
Reply to  NME666
February 13, 2018 10:46 am

This is for Y Knott. NATO is hardly a “good thing.” Not for the US, not for Europe, not for the world. Any organization that is based strictly in war has that same problem if you are seeking peace. Patton said what good is a general without a war? He was right, and I’ll add, what good is a war machine without a war? Where does NATO fit into a war in Afghanistan? It doesn’t. Not a member of NATO was threatened by Afghanistan, and Afghanistan had nothing to do with the dumping of the twin towers, and that was known at before the war. The “cold war,” as it was, was ended when one side ran out of money. The “new cold war” is being started by the existence of NATO and the fact that, well, “what good IS a war machine without a war?” And the bigger the better.

SocietalNorm
Reply to  NME666
February 13, 2018 8:45 pm

Tom O, did you forget that the hijackers of the planes that killed all those Americans trained in Afghanistan with approval of the Taliban? Did you also forget that the Taliban were harboring Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan? Did you forget that the US asked for the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden and only after they refused did the US prepare to overthrow the Taliban? Did you forget that for NATO an attack on one is an attack on all?
Some people have very convenient loss-of-memory.
[I’ve never been a fan of trying to build up Afghanistan. The rule is, “never get involved in a land war in Asia.” Still, there was ample justification to go to war against the Taliban.]

s-t
Reply to  NME666
February 14, 2018 3:38 pm

The NATO that found no way to immediately and radically stop any ISIS oil exports, in the desert, on path offering no protection, on easily identifiable oil trucks with zero risk for confusion (unless ISIS exports milk products in oil trucks)? Very impressive indeed…

mike
Reply to  MarkW
February 12, 2018 6:02 pm

I am not planning to visit the mosque that replaces Notre Dame…

Chris Dawson
Reply to  mike
February 12, 2018 11:25 pm

Trump administration need simply say the EU trade caviet should apply specifically to ‘meeting’ Paris Targets, which the US would do, rather than to ‘signing up’ to Paris Targets, everyone can sign up to, but very few meet, these targets.
Germany and almost all of the EU would fail their own test.

Reply to  mike
February 13, 2018 9:42 am

+ quite a few Chris Dawson.

Reply to  mike
February 13, 2018 12:07 pm

The Halal of Notre Dame?

higley7
Reply to  MarkW
February 12, 2018 8:37 pm

Imagine how far you would get by forcing people to swallow a bolus of rat poison before than they can buy a meal from you. The EU does not know a thing about diplomacy or has simply decided to be a bully. But, then they are the liberals in the room and they are sure they know better than anyone what is good for everyone else. It must be fun to operate from such a high tower.

Old England
Reply to  MarkW
February 13, 2018 1:05 am

The ever-increasing arrogance of the anti-democratic EU becomes more and more breathtaking as months go by. Driven by the Germans and the French it has shown its dictatorial nature yet again, just as it is trying to do in Brexit.
The EU claims to believe in Free Trade but you shouldn’t take that at face value, what it does is more often than not the opposite. It is a closed shop, protectionist customs union that uses import tarriffs to protect its own industry. Looking at how many years, often 7 or more, it takes to agree a trade deal and then at the detail of a deal it becomes clearer how sclerotic and anti-free trade the EU actually is.
It uses massive tarriff barriers through ‘trade agreements’ to hold back exports from developing countries and particularly those that are developing food exports. With food products the protection of French agriculture at the expense of others is a priority.
The EU functions to serve the interests of German and French industry at the expense of employment and industry in the mediterranean nations. The Euro is kept at a relatively low value (compared to what the D mark would be) by the massive unemployment in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece etc where some 20%-40% of young people are unemployed. But keeping the euro at a relatively low value supports and maintains German manufacturing and industry by making it competitive.
The EU was structured to avoid democratic accountability and challenge but with a very clever fig leaf of retaining national parliaments to make the average voter believe they are still living in a democracy; Laws and policies are made by the unelected in Brussels and must then be put into law in the member states by their own parliament. That way laws appear, to the man in the street, to have been made ‘democratically’.
The founders of the EU believed that the average voter is not competent to make the ‘Right’ decision so this must be left to unelected eurocrats, and is why it is structured as it is. I suspect that the EU is wholly committed to the idea of an undemocratic global government under the guise of ‘Climate Change’ and that the anti-democratic and unaccountable structure of the EU, whilst keeping the appearance of democracy, is a dry run and test bed.
In the UK during the 1990s the Labour government opened the doors to uncontrolled immigration into the UK – and even went out and encouraged it from around the world. It later came out that this was a secret policy decision to use imported foreign cultures and non-integration to break up British communities and remove or destroy the sense of identity of what and who we Brits are. It has worked. I see the same being practiced in the EU by left-wing ex-soviets such as Angela Merkel as millions of people from the middle east and africa are encouraged to come and settle in Europe.
Through all of this the EU has taken itself into a protectionist spiral of decline that is being worsened by ‘Green Policies’ to force energy costs ever higher through the use of unreliable renewables.
By the way, the key reason that we voted for Brexit was to take back sovereignty from the EU and to be able to determine our own future once again rather than having it dictated to us by left-wing control freaks in the self-appointed Eurocracy.

TA
Reply to  Old England
February 13, 2018 9:23 pm

“The ever-increasing arrogance of the anti-democratic EU becomes more and more breathtaking as months go by.”
I think that sums it up perfectly. Arrogance is what we see on display from the EU bureaucrats. Lots of bluster.

s-t
Reply to  Old England
February 14, 2018 3:31 pm

“Through all of this the EU has taken itself into a protectionist spiral”
EU is apparently pro-free trade with those blocks that get a competitive advantage by virtue of the Paris accord: they think they can subsidize competitors, allow free trade, and still not destroy its own economy. It’s economic craziness on steroids.

jeanparisot
Reply to  MarkW
February 13, 2018 8:45 am

I bet there is an explicit exemption for Airbus in that policy …

ResourceGuy
Reply to  jeanparisot
February 13, 2018 10:54 am

+10
and EU airlines

Ross King
February 12, 2018 4:16 pm

[Snip] ’em !!!!!!

Ross King
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 4:19 pm

What do they have that we can’t produce on the NA continent??

D. J. Hawkins
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 4:26 pm

Really great cheese? Somehow, I’m sure we’ll survive.

Ross
Reply to  D. J. Hawkins
February 12, 2018 6:30 pm

Dear DJ Hawkins
Yes, one of the few things they do really well is fromage!
We in BC are catching..up! i wd rather eat our local version of Camembert (for much less!) than support a hostile France whom we rescued in two World Wars. Fuc*k ’em!!
Their wine is over..opinionated and excessively expensive ….. shop “New World!!!”

ricksanchez769
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 5:06 pm

The science is settled, we are but 1 country NOT in the Accord, surely all those left in the Accord can ensure a planetary temperature drop of 2.0 degrees. It’s not that we are subverting all their grand efforts to get to 2.0 degrees cooler…

Bryan A
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 5:10 pm

We don’t need no Consternation
We don’t need no cheese with holes
French bread leaves me constipated
EU leave the world alone
Hey EU leave the world alone
All in all EU’re just a-nother brick in the wall
All in all EU’re just a-nother brick in the wall

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 6:37 pm

We buy everything from China anyway.

Richard G
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 6:59 pm

We can make our own wine and cheese. That will leave the EU with all whine and no cheese.

philincalifornia
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 9:48 pm

Yeah, how will we manage to exist without sauerkraut.
…. and will BMW, Mercedes and VW not be able to sell cars here? That’s going to be quite a laugh.

MarkW
Reply to  Ross King
February 13, 2018 10:16 am

VW at least already builds a lot of cars over here.
As expensive as it is to build stuff in the US, it’s even more expensive in the EU.

Hot under the collar
Reply to  Ross King
February 13, 2018 10:23 am

King,
Communists and unelected overpaid EU autocrats?

Mickey Reno
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 8:23 pm

We’ll go medieval on them and start calling our sparkling wine Champagne.
(that’s a /sarc for those of you who… oh nevermind)

Greg Cavanagh
February 12, 2018 4:20 pm

In a couple years with the recently imported Iranians leaching off the system, the entire block will be a basket case economy.

Ross King
Reply to  Greg Cavanagh
February 12, 2018 4:56 pm

[Snip. Off topic. Violation of site commenting policy. -mod]]

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 6:40 pm

[Snip. Off topic. Violation of site commenting policy. -mod]

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Ross King
February 12, 2018 6:42 pm

[Snip. Off topic. Violation of site commenting policy. -mod]

Edwin
February 12, 2018 4:21 pm

Please can I be there when Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, and BMW are told they will be shipping far fewer cars to the USA or paying tariffs. The EU keeps going down this track and Brexit may be the least of their worries, though I am sure Putin and Russian oligarchs will be happy.

Reply to  Edwin
February 12, 2018 5:48 pm

Great idea Edwin!
Put a 300% import duty on all European cars.
Pretty soon we’ll be building much better cars in North America!

Walter Sobchak
Reply to  ALLAN MACRAE
February 12, 2018 6:10 pm

We do build much better cars in the US. The German cars are expensive, fragile, stiff, and uncomfortable.

Reply to  ALLAN MACRAE
February 12, 2018 8:56 pm

Walter – I meant better cars than WE build now.
Much better than Mercedes and BMW at less than half the price.

Bryan A
Reply to  ALLAN MACRAE
February 13, 2018 10:33 am

Walt,
I’m 5’11” tall and 34 years ago worked for a Mercedes Dealership (for 3 weeks). On several occasions I was to go to Richmond Ca and drive new cars back accross the bridge to San Rafael. The last one I drove was a 190C (fortunately it had a Sun Roof as I had to open it just to keep my head from rubbing against the HeadLiner inside the car) Definitely one of the least comfortable cars I had ever driven

Pop Piasa
Reply to  ALLAN MACRAE
February 13, 2018 1:38 pm

Yes, Allen. They’ll have to compete with Hyundai.

Steve Fraser
Reply to  Edwin
February 12, 2018 6:02 pm

Airbus comes to mind, too.

Reply to  Steve Fraser
February 12, 2018 9:03 pm

Airbus absolutely – I mean, who wants to be 30,000 feet up inside something built by the British AND the French?
Remember how these geniuses handled the Germans in the early days of WW2?
Or their interminable trench warfare slaughter in WW1?
Every time I flush the toilet in an Airbus, I expect to be sucked down to freefall. 🙂

Eugene S. Conlin
Reply to  Steve Fraser
February 13, 2018 3:20 am

ALLAN MACRAE: You forget that the Allies could not have won WW2 if the French hadn’t heroically surrendered ‘en-masse’ in order to slow down the German advance and increase their administration costs
/sarc

Adam R
Reply to  Steve Fraser
February 13, 2018 11:30 am

The British and French built Concorde!
The Americans turned up late to WW2, waiting on the sidelines until everyone had kicked 10 bells out of each other for several years.
And if you could drive a sponge, it would probably be more robust, be more exciting to drive, and handle better than an American car!
From a Pro-Brexiteer who hates the EU! 🙂

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Steve Fraser
February 13, 2018 1:54 pm

Always stand up an brace yourself before flushing at 40,000 ft. That is a more sensible application of the precautionary principle than some we see.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Steve Fraser
February 13, 2018 2:05 pm

Adam, that’s because they are made for driving on the wrong side of the road. (Nyuk,nyuk,nyuk.)

Reply to  Steve Fraser
February 13, 2018 11:06 pm

Adam – when is the last time you drove a North American Car? They are much improved in terms of handling.
However, I do mourn the demise of the Great North American Land Yachts with their 8-litre V-8 engines and three-speed syncro-mush transmissions, They accelerated like a bat-out-of hell in a straight line, but then kept going straight, even into the corners. 🙂
It’s good that you are “a Pro-Brexiteer who hates the EU”. Britain(and its allies) did not win the war so they could surrender the peace.
Re the Americans showing up late for WW2 – better late than never. Realistically , we probably would have lost without them, and the royal family would have had to change their name from Windsor back to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Streetcred
February 12, 2018 4:23 pm

The EU has nothing to ‘trade’ … they exiled their industry to China, impoverished their member states and now want to reduce the rest of the developed world to their ‘junk bond’ status.

KRM
Reply to  Streetcred
February 12, 2018 5:21 pm

And they’ve hobbled their remaining industries with rising power and compliance costs. The only thing I’ve bought from Europe in the past few years is wine, and that’s easily substituted from elsewhere.

michael mills
Reply to  KRM
February 12, 2018 8:13 pm

we in OZ have plenty of better wine the the french stuff at a fraction of the price.

Reply to  KRM
February 12, 2018 9:23 pm

When Charles de Gaulle got kicked out of Canada for shouting “Vive le Quebec Libre”, I stopped drinking ~all French wines. That pompous ingrate horse’s ass owed his job AND his country to our boys who fought and died in WW1 and WW2. Then he came here and insulted their memory with his pandering to separatists?
Some acts are unforgiven – that is one of them.
I have a great-uncle buried in France, killed in action in the last weeks of WW1, and an uncle who was the only surviving officer of the Essex Scottish Regiment at Dieppe in WW2.
I have friends who are French, but I’ll be damned to hell if I ever buy anything made in France.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  KRM
February 13, 2018 1:49 am

“michael mills February 12, 2018 at 8:13 pm”
And a lot of the wine from those vines is from vines imported from the EU and France 200 years ago.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  KRM
February 13, 2018 2:11 pm

And don’t forget how California whines. Oh, wait…

Leonard Lane
Reply to  KRM
February 13, 2018 10:04 pm

The argument is irrelevant. By the time all this could be worked out and the necessary laws/treaties passed it may be too late for most of Europe. The no-go zones will merge and grow even faster.

John Bell
February 12, 2018 4:25 pm

I never understood, what is a “trade deal”? Is that a discount?

Reply to  John Bell
February 12, 2018 4:52 pm

I have the same question. So, we can’t trade unless our governments say so?

Bryan A
Reply to  John Bell
February 12, 2018 5:14 pm

It is an agreement between governments regarding the amount of import one is willing to accept in exchange for mutual export

Kaiser Derden
Reply to  Bryan A
February 12, 2018 6:38 pm

free trade doesn’t need government control …

rogerthesurf
Reply to  Bryan A
February 12, 2018 7:47 pm

Kaiser,
You hit the nail on the head!
Free trade simply means a “negotiated agreement on the amount of government interference on trade”.
Cheers
Roger

Bill5150
Reply to  Bryan A
February 12, 2018 10:20 pm

Free trade is code for highly regulated trade and a free trade deal is such an arrangement made in complete secrecy and overseen by the unelected commissars of the EU, UN, globalist banking cabal and faceless bureaucrats etc.
If you trust these people to have your interests at heart under these insane circumstances you should call a psychiatrist and he will relieve you of what cash you have left.
Sick sad world.

Klem
Reply to  John Bell
February 13, 2018 2:49 am

Canada has a free trade deal with the EU, and part of the deal is that Canada must have a Carbon tax in place. Canada is now in the process of bowing to the EU’s demand by introducing a national carbon tax this year.
If NAFTA is in place once again, could the EU get their products into the USA through Canada?

MarkW
Reply to  Klem
February 13, 2018 10:19 am

The trade deals that I am familiar with have provisions limiting transhipments.

markl
February 12, 2018 4:26 pm

The EU is an empty suit. How the people of Europe allowed non elected bureaucrats to take over their governments is a lesson in subversion and ignorance. The chances of them enforcing trade sanctions over the Paris Agreement with other countries, especially the US, is laughable.

Javert Chip
Reply to  markl
February 12, 2018 4:44 pm

markl
Most of the EU was never really a fully functioning democracy. This makes it easy for non elected bureaucrats to continue to run the place.

Bryan A
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 5:18 pm

If they are basing trade agreements on Paris Accord Adherence then the EU has morphed from separate monarchies through a bastardized form of democracy and into a full blown theocracy

markl
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 5:32 pm

“….Most of the EU was never really a fully functioning democracy…..” ? Neither is/was the US. No? But they still have/had elections with actual choices.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 2:24 pm

Markl, was “the crook or the clown” much of a real choice for America?

Fred Harwood
Reply to  markl
February 12, 2018 5:32 pm

Hear, here!

RAH
February 12, 2018 4:34 pm

I wouldn’t only stand up to them but would make sure that at least for a time they were forced to feel the pain of making their threats by making them keep their word for a time. Talking to Bullies doesn’t work to stop the aggression just as noted in the article. . Punitive action does. No threats, nor promises, no bargains or negotiations, just make them live for a time by their words so that the message is clear that the US won’t stand for empty threats. As things are going right now with deregulation and the weakening of the dollar things are not looking that great for them over the long haul.

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  RAH
February 12, 2018 6:49 pm

Who needs a trade deal with the EU? they have nothing unique.

HotScot
Reply to  RAH
February 13, 2018 6:52 am

I’m afraid we have awoken a sleeping giant. (Paraphrasing Tojo? following Pearl Harbour).
I think the pipsqueak EU had best not throw their weight around with America!

rh
February 12, 2018 4:39 pm

WWI, WWII, and now the EU. The tactics have changed, but the German end-game remains the same.

Zeke
Reply to  rh
February 12, 2018 5:42 pm

+++rh

Zeke
Reply to  rh
February 12, 2018 6:07 pm

It’s just so much fun to be dominated by Germany in the EU, that the UK is moving quietly and quickly into a EU Common Defense Union, thus transferring its military funding, intelligence and decisions to that body as well.comment image
The Remainers forgot to mention this development in EU membership when the referendum to leave the EU was held.

philincalifornia
Reply to  rh
February 12, 2018 9:55 pm

rh
Yes, they just cannot stop themselves from temporarily invading Belgium, France et al., and failing to invade the UK and Russia. It must be a self-flagellation thing.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  philincalifornia
February 13, 2018 2:40 pm

Curly (Jerry) Howard (Horowitz) said it right, “If at first you don’t succeed, keep on suckin’ ’till you do succeed.”

Mervyn
February 12, 2018 4:40 pm

Does the EU really believe the world can’t live without European products? They tried this stunt once before with the airline industry … and the EU found it had to back down because of adverse repercussions it would have faced.

Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 4:41 pm

The EU has 155% of the USA’s 325M population and 97% of the USA’s $18,1T GDP (said another way, the average EU GDP/person is 65% of the USA). EU makes a lot of stuff (cars, Pharma), but with a few exceptions, the EU doesn’t invent stuff.
If the EU was stupid enough (it could be…) to cut itself off from new & cutting edge technology, it would quickly slide towards the Greek economic end of the spectrum.
The good news is this would soon be cheaper for American tourists, and lots of places might reclaim their wonderful bucolic pasts.

Javert Chip
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 4:49 pm

…and I forgot to mention, exactly NONE of the EU countries could defend themselves in a military conflict…with out NATO.

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 7:17 pm

Dont blame only the Germans The French have also had a big hand in this blackmail.

rapscallion
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 4:57 am

You forget Britain who unfortunately is still a EU member until we leave the sinking ship in March 2019, and we have nuclear weapons. Have a nice day y’all.

Nigel S
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 3:16 am

Javert Chip February 12, 2018 at 4:41 pm: US is 16th by Nobel prizes per capita which suggests that the old world is not quite finished yet even if we seem to be trying to commit suicide at the moment. A few countries from the list, prizes per 10 million population. Sweden 30.2, Austria 24.0, Denmark 22.5, UK 19.9, Ireland 14.7, Germany 13.0, Netherlands 11.7, USA 11.3.

Javert Chip
Reply to  Nigel S
February 13, 2018 3:50 pm

Nigel
The comment was about inventions, not Nobel prizes.
But if we must: Nobel prizes are awarded by politicians. One went to Obama for…um…nobody can quite explain why.

MarkW
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 10:22 am

There was a time when the best engineers and chemists in the world were European.
About 100 years ago.

marque2
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 3:32 pm

I would accept in the name of preventing global warming that the USA could put a 100% tariff on European cars which are largely gas guzzling luxury cars. More expensive cars will encourage more commuting and using smaller more efficient vehicles.
Maybe that is what the EU wants – to destroy their industry to save us all from AGW.

Extreme Hiatus
February 12, 2018 4:47 pm

This must just be more empty stupid-talk from the desperate Parisites. The EU cannot afford this loss and it is already heading down the toilet economically, politically and culturally.
Some recent – to 2016 – trade stats here:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113465.pdf

Ross King
Reply to  Extreme Hiatus
February 12, 2018 5:04 pm

Extreme Hiatus …..I just LOVE your “Parisites”!!!!!!! Bon mot!!

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Extreme Hiatus
February 12, 2018 7:19 pm

This whole AGW hoax unfortunately demonstrates again that everything is connected to everything else.

Tom Judd
February 12, 2018 4:47 pm

I know. As the US oil production keeps ramping up the EU can keep sourcing their oil, along with making protection payments, to Vladimir Putin and/or those fun loving Ayatollahs in Iran.
Making an empty threat is rather stupid. I’m certain we sell far less Ford F150s and Dodge Rams in the EU than they sell Mercedes, BMWs, Maseratis and Ferraris in the US. Go ahead EU, have at it!

Javert Chip
Reply to  Tom Judd
February 12, 2018 4:50 pm

Hold on…my BMW540i is made in Munich…

Walter Sobchak
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 6:14 pm

My Honda Accord, built in Central Ohio, is a far better automobile, and cost less than half of what your BMW cost.

Javert Chip
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 8:11 pm

We don’t define value the same way (I’m definitely not in the “get from A to B cost-effectively” camp); Honda Accord = just not my cup of tea.
People value & pay for different things, markets exist to satisfy desires, hopefully at a profit.
Neither you or I really cares what the other thinks about our respective cars. I make buying decisions based on what i’d love to drive. I don’t spend time denigrating the rest.
I’m sure a Honda Accord is a perfectly serviceable car.

Nashville
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 8:37 pm

They stop, they go. The rest is ego.

Javert Chip
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 9:08 pm

Nashville
Given a choice between your rather passionless existence, and my BMW – gimme a fast car!.

Reply to  Javert Chip
February 12, 2018 11:20 pm

Corvette. Or Tesla S. Or several others…

HotScot
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 6:58 am

All X class BMW’s are made in the US.

John B
Reply to  Javert Chip
February 13, 2018 4:42 pm

My Prado isn’t fast, but it goes places that neither the BMW or Accord can go. Horses for courses.

Janice The American Elder
Reply to  Tom Judd
February 12, 2018 5:35 pm

How would the EU react, if the various European car makers built factories in the US?

Latitude
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 12, 2018 5:40 pm

a drama cow!….like nothing we’re ever seen…but that is exactly what would happen

Kaiser Derden
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 12, 2018 6:40 pm

they already have …

Keith J
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 12, 2018 7:08 pm

More like if VWAG, BMW and Porsche move? Because all three have North American assembly plants. Same with Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan and even Kia.

philincalifornia
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 12, 2018 9:58 pm

My BMW was constructed in South Africa. Ace car too.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 13, 2018 1:47 am

“philincalifornia February 12, 2018 at 9:58 pm”
Assembled from kits.

marque2
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 13, 2018 4:29 pm

This is actually how their global warming CO2 inititive works. They tax companies for CO2, and also give nice government credits for cutting CO2. Nothing like shutting down a factory to cut CO2 and get credits, but the company still needs to build a product. What to do? Hmm, I know, I will build the same factory in China or India, and I will get my credits, and the CO2 issue is then their problem, and conveniently they don’t have caps!

catweazle666
Reply to  Janice The American Elder
February 13, 2018 5:33 pm

“How would the EU react, if the various European car makers built factories in the US?”
The largest BMW factory in the World is in South Carolina.

TonyL
February 12, 2018 4:52 pm

Both the Atlantic and Pacific trade deals under the previous administration had backdoor ratification of the Paris Accord, along with the establishment of an “International Tribunal” for enforcement. (This had anti-US bias written all over it, but that is another story.) Those backdoors, which had nothing to do with trade were a big consideration for the current administration to scuttle the deals.
Interesting that the author reminds us of the Airline Carbon Tax. The EU thought they could ram it down our throats, even threatening to suspend landing rights to US carriers. The US carriers said NO, and plans were made to block all EU carriers from the US in retaliation, if needed. Within days, the EU panicked and crumpled like yesterdays newspaper.
It looks like they need a refresher lesson.

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  TonyL
February 12, 2018 7:23 pm

French and Germans are renowned for blackmail.

Javert Chip
Reply to  TonyL
February 12, 2018 8:16 pm

Hell, they can’t even get the emissions controls right on many of the cars they build in Germany

F. Ross
February 12, 2018 5:00 pm

“No Paris Agreement, no trade agreement.”
Sounds good to me.

MarkG
Reply to  F. Ross
February 12, 2018 6:50 pm

Exactly. Trump must be laughing at this ‘threat’.

Reply to  MarkG
February 12, 2018 8:51 pm

Pretty much. He’s already after them for the trade imbalance. What an enormous gulf lies between government and business! Trump was elected to redress that. Thank God for continental drift…

February 12, 2018 5:07 pm

Obama interfered with the UK Brexit vote by saying that if Britain voted to leave the EU, they would be at the end of the line with US trade and other considerations.
Did this move by the EU cement the reality that a non Brexit UK goes to the FRONT of the line?.
The “Art of the Deal”.

bubbagyro
Reply to  George Daddis
February 12, 2018 8:39 pm

Yes, George, I noted that also…
They really think they can out-negotiate The Donald? LOL.
Maybe they haven’t read Art of The Deal yet?
Bub

Nigel S
Reply to  George Daddis
February 13, 2018 3:32 am

Yes, Obama’s intervention made a major contribution to swinging the vote in favour of Brexit so that’s one thing to thank him for at least.

Meigs
February 12, 2018 5:08 pm

EU should only accept tourism that arrives on sail boats, bicycles, or foot….and should only mfg and export the same way…I’ve worked there, their environmental laws are lax compared to the US…dey talk the talk but don’t walk the walk

Curious George
February 12, 2018 5:10 pm

EU has ironclad rules, which all states except France and Germany have to adhere to.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Curious George
February 12, 2018 6:34 pm

That pretty much sums the EU up nicely.

Mark T
February 12, 2018 5:15 pm

They need us more than we need them. They know this. It’s a bluff. Against somebody that holds all the cards and has demonstrated as much repeatedly. At their own peril, I suppose.

Rhoda R
Reply to  Mark T
February 12, 2018 5:38 pm

Bluffing President Trump might back-fire – biggly.

Alan Tomalty
Reply to  Rhoda R
February 12, 2018 7:26 pm

Trump is a despicable human being but his election triumph just may save the world from the global warming hoax

February 12, 2018 5:19 pm

… yet another attempt to talk people into allowing OTHER countries to tell THIS country (the USA) how to go about its business.
The “U” in “bully” stands for “European UNION”. We may now spell it “beully”.

HotScot
Reply to  Robert Kernodle
February 13, 2018 7:02 am

The bEUlly may a blEUdy nose.

RC Saumarez
Reply to  Robert Kernodle
February 13, 2018 9:29 am

With Headquarters in the “Bullymont” building (Actually, it’s called the Berlaymont Building)

February 12, 2018 5:28 pm

Yep. Like flooding the 1000 year old food basket of the Somerset Levels, mandating vacuum cleaners that don’t work. The list is long.
They (mainly France) conned the Brits years ago by selling them “Golden Delicious” apples aka surplus pig food. Clever …. but victims eventually learn.
Anyway, what happens if a country signs the trade agreement then pulls out of the Parisite nonsense?

Reg Nelson
February 12, 2018 5:38 pm

Pretty funny. The US has no trade agreement with the EU. This is why BMW decided to build their cars destined to be imported into the EU in Mexico, which does have a free trade (no tariff) agreement with the EU.
Meanwhile, the New Left tries to blame HRC’s presidential loss on covert Russian influence. They completely forget that Obama publicly threatened the British voters if they voted for Brexit.

Latitude
Reply to  Reg Nelson
February 12, 2018 5:43 pm

facts seem to be easily forgotten….like Clinton blowing up the Chinese embassy

Davis
February 12, 2018 5:42 pm

Do we actually NEED anything from Europe here in North America? I’m sure we could get along fine without trading with them. Unfortunately here in Canada, we have JT just standing there, a lone voice in the wilderness, talking to himself.

Ross
Reply to  Davis
February 12, 2018 6:19 pm

JUstin Trudeau, the ultimate Narcissist, stands in front of one of his innumerable mirrors (in Sophie Gregoire’s remodelled Prime Ministerial Residence) so He can practise every utterance, talking to himself, between wetdream..land in bed and getting out the door every morning. (That’s when he is not holidaying at the Canadian Taxpayers’ expense for transport and security, and the Aga Khan’s hospitality, for which there is Ethical Criticism, given that Canada subscribes to AK’s Foundations via the PM’s Office)

Javert Chip
Reply to  Davis
February 12, 2018 8:23 pm

Yes!
o Gina Lollobrigida (or more current model)
o prosciutto di parma
o white burgundies
o my aforementioned BWM 540i and a shot at the autobahn
That about sums it up.

lewispbuckingham
February 12, 2018 5:48 pm

The EU sells their Airbus to Middle eastern airlines.
The Gulf States depend on oil and gas.
Will the EU stop selling Airbus to the Emirates to save our planet?
If they were to do this, Boeing’s Dreamliner would replace them immediately.

s-t
Reply to  lewispbuckingham
February 14, 2018 4:37 pm

Not only that, there are regular flights to these countries. Will they sign up for a CO2 tax?

JohnKnight
February 12, 2018 5:49 pm

I suspect this is more of a veiled threat to other countries’ officials, especially EU countries, that they better stick with the Paris “accord”, or there might be serious repercussions . .

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