EU and Trade.

Greetings loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader's hackles are raised and his blood pressure is slowly elevating. (Neither of these are good signs for the uninitiated.) He was driving one of the Villainettes out to do a little Christmas shopping when he heard a disturbing report on the NPR program "Marketplace." Here is the link if you want to listen to the report. It seems the lummoxes at the EU have decided that since they got the US to back down on Steel Tariffs they ought to draw from the well again. Now they are demanding that various tax subsidies (ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization - WTO) be repealed or they will institute their own tariffs on various American products.

Now. Before your Maximum Leader completely loses his cool let him note a few things. First, he believed that the Steel Tariffs were bad and that they should be repealed. Second, he is a big believer in free trade, but not a big believer in the WTO. In fact, your Maximum Leader is not a big believer in multinational organizations that promote "international law." He firmly believes that while collective action is a good thing, ultimately there is no sovereignty greater than that of the individual nation-state. And ultimately, the nation-state needs to be able to act in its own interests. International law, while a novel idea, is subordinate to the law of the individual nation-state. That is to say that each nation must choose to obey international law, or have that law dictated to it by others. Lastly, your Maximum Leader is a big believer in fair play. Now....

So the little EU pencil-dicks have decided that we can't give tax breaks to various corporations to allow them to compete with European Consortiums that are FRIGGING OWNED AND SUBSIDZED BY THE EU MEMBER STATES! It seems that according to the WTO, a government can't give a tax-break to a company; but if they want to buy a huge part of the business and funnel tax money into it by way of stockholding and special grants that is fine. I'd like to see some French farmers learn that their subsidies are going to be cut. I'd like to see what happens when Airbus loses the financial support of Germany, Spain, and France. I'd like to see what Mercedes would do without occasional help from the Government. I'd like to see the Germans and the French abide by the same financial guidelines they are FORCING DOWN THE THROATS OF ALL THE OTHER EU STATES!

Your Maximum Leader is angered by this. But alas, the hour is late, and your Maximum Leader needs to get some sleep. He promises more invective in the morning.

Carry on.