Paul Krugman (Substack)

But the Musk/Trump betrayal of America’s international principles is having an unintended result: Europe’s democracies, which as a group remain one of the world’s economic superpowers, are rousing themselves to fill the vacuum.

Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, each by itself, has greater economic resources than Russia does. Collectively, they have vastly greater weight than Russia. Moreover, the war has placed the Russian economy under severe strain. Yet, for most of Europe, the cost of aiding Ukraine has been barely noticeable. And if Merz’s remarks are any indication, Europe may soon be prepared to do considerably more.

A trade war with Europe means going head to head with an economy more or less the same size as our own, at the same time that we’re having fights with all our other trading partners. And the Europeans are not going to be in a conciliatory mood. Did I mention that Tesla sales in Europe fell 45 percent last month?