Trump must be stopped from ripping up international order, says Andrews

Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews has said that Europe needs to take firmer action against Donald Trump in the wake of his repeated threats against Europe.

Over the weekend, Trump threatened new tariffs against Europe as part of his quixotic campaign to attain Greenland.

Andrews said “appeasement is not working, not for governments, nor for our businesses. Saturday’s declaration by the US president is another blow against what remained of the transatlantic alliance.”

“With one social media post, Trump has likely killed the deal that was agreed in Scotland last summer, which sought to avoid an EU-US trade war. I welcome the statements by parliament leaders to pause the deal,” he said.

The Fianna Fáil MEP said that “Trump’s unreliability shows that the time has now come for the EU to stop its appeasement and to take even more robust action.”

“Playground bullies must be confronted head on; for months now, I have been calling on the EU to trigger our so-called ‘Anti-Coercion trade bazooka’.”

He explained, “this would mean blocking US access to the lucrative EU market for certain goods and services such as the defence sector and public procurement market.”

“President Trump only respects strength; we need to show him that enough is enough.”

Andrews tied the current geopolitical state of affairs to the contentious Mercosur deal, saying, “this situation makes it clear that the Mercosur parliament vote is an opportunity to demonstrate that we are capable of thinking strategically and acting autonomously.”

“Trump has to be stopped from ripping up the international order upon which we rely for our economic vitality,” the Dublin MEP said.