Largest European business group ERT supports action against the US

The European Round Table for Industry, a business group which includes executives from companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Eni and Astrazeneca, has made a statement to show solidarity to the people of Denmark & Greenland and supporting the necessary measures against the US if things do not cool down quickly

>ERT expresses very serious concern about recent threats to derail the EU-US trade agreement reached last summer at Turnberry. The agreement satisfied key US concerns and provided much needed predictability between the world’s two biggest trading partners.

>ERT fully supports Europe’s unified stance and steadfastness in solidarity with the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark. Respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity is fundamental to international law. We urge the parties to embark on dialogue and deescalate the situation as a matter of urgency.

>Failing this, ERT would support necessary steps to defend the fundamental interests of Europe and EU Member States.

Good to know that the corporate sector has a clear stance on this

Is the phrase “expresses very serious concern about” correct English?

The sad truth is that it will be hard for Europe to actually do anything without severely hurt ourselves in the process – much more than the US. At this moment in time the US is supplying Europe with more than 50 percent of its gas, and it’s projected to surge to 70 percent in the coming years. Are we supposed to go back to Russia?

And what about the weapons for Ukraine? We’re funding them, yes, but the vast majority of the weapons are coming from the US.

We don’t have enough resources, we don’t have enough energy, we don’t have enough industry, we don’t have enough technology, and we don’t produce nearly enough weapons to provide for Ukraine, let alone ourselves.

I see a lot of problems, and no good solutions.
A couple of things we could do is to massively start up coal burning, quickly build nuclear, removing lots of red tape, and ask Norway to withdraw from the Paris accords and explore and produce as much oil and gas as heavenly possible. We need energy security now!

That’s actually surprising, good to know we’re all have enough of orange wannabe dictator

When even the MEGA corps gets that we need to respond in kind, you know things are fucked and serious. They know if US invades, the markets are going to crash hard.

Interesting and significant that industry groups would come out and say this. Makes me think that they predict that they can survive any short term economic uncertainty and come out stronger in the long run.

the headline is a bit misleading the ERT urges dialogue and appear to still want the crummy trade deal but failing this yes we will support “necessary steps”?

Its going to be incredibly embarrassing for Europe when marco rubio strikes a deal to buy greenland

Trump has been playing a game of buckaroo with reality. Eventually you remove one stick too many and you get kicked in the balls.

It’s really clear to anyone looking now that he won’t stop America first until the rest of the world forces him to stop.

In this way we find we have some things in common with China and other targets. We should be creative and use them against America if they are going to let trump lead them.

Imagine just for a moment that we all went along with this. We hand over Greenland to Trump. Ukraine agrees to give up territory for no reason. We agree to tariffs, to pay USA random billions for “NATO defense” or whatever, all sorts of absurd demands, we heap Trump with prizes and accolades and all sorts of other praise that he has never ever done anything to earn.

What leverage would we gain? Trump doesn’t feel gratitude. He doesn’t keep a tally of who has helped him. Narcissists like him are literally incapable of any of that. You might as well ask a cat to do complex analysis. His brain is literally not physically capable of it. He only remembers who has “wronged” him, and he also remembers who was easy to bully into giving him free stuff.

If we gave Trump anything at all, within 3 months we would be back to a situation where Trump demands something more. And each time, it would be something bolder, more outrageous, more insane. Next time, it is Iceland, Canada, Norway. It is Europe forced to stop building renewable energy so we buy more American energy. Whatever insane thing you can think of, Trump might demand it.

Appeasement might very rarely work with a rational actor who knows not to overplay their hand. It categorically does not work with an evil, irrational, and frankly stupid actor like Trump.

At best, appeasement can buy a little bit of time. But all that you pay along the way will be lost unless you can be certain that the time you bought will make you grow strong enough to gain it all back. I don’t see that happening.

This far and no further, and in fact we need things to go back by a lot. Simple as that. If we want to live as free people in free countries, if we believe in any higher principles like justice, freedom, democracy, reason, rationality, fairness, equality, even kindness, politeness, all the positive qualities and principles that Trump entirely lacks, then this has to be the moment that we stop giving in to the insane, repulsive, deranged evil that Trump and others like him represent.