Responding to the question, “Should the EU Bite the 10 Percent Tariff Bullet With the United States?” Steve Hanke writes:
It’s difficult to keep up with President Trump’s tariff threats. While Trump zigs and zags, he remains a dyed-in-the-wool protectionist. If that isn’t bad enough, he also practices anomie. In short, Trump does not respect and follow the laws or norms of sovereign interaction and discourse.
With the stage set in such a way, what should the EU do? It should call Trump’s bluff. The U.S. president has stated that his tariff threats are nothing more than a means to reduce tariffs to zero. The EU should say: Fine, zero they will be.
Steve Hanke is a Distinguished Senior Scholar at the Mises Institute and a Professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University. He can be followed on X @steve_hanke.
