Trump and his economic team bet-the-house on persuading the Europeans to impose tough tariffs on India and China as a way to pressure the Russian government by targeting its major fossil fuel customers. As I have previously stated, Treasury Secretary Bessent, along with Peter Navarro, wrongly believed that Russia was strategically dependent on exporting oil to China and India, and that imposing significant costs on Russia would collapse the Russian economy. Well, that bet is busted.
The European Union (EU) has rejected US President Donald Trump’s push for 100% tariffs on India and China, as per media reports. Why?
Notably, the EU is in the midst of concluding a trade deal with New Delhi. The two sides are deliberating this week, looking to resolve their differences over issues of agriculture, dairy, and non-tariff barriers to meet an ambitious end-of-year deadline for a deal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a telephonic conversation with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, deliberating bilateral ties, trade, and global issues, including the Ukraine conflict.
Remains to be seen if Trump is going to double-down in ratcheting up tariffs and sanctions on Russia -- count me as a skeptic -- or is the President simply going to do nothing and let the war come to it inevitable conclusion. With the focus of the media almost entirely consumed by the murder of Charlie Kirk, this was a major punch in the face to Donald Trump's diplomacy.
Shifting briefly to Israel's bombing of Qatar, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning Israel’s attack on Qatar on September 11, 2025. Although the statement did not directly name Israel, it was clear the condemnation was directed at Israel because of itss airstrike in Qatar last week targeting Hamas officials. This move was notable, as the U.S. usually shields Israel from Security Council criticism but, in this case, President Trump and U.S. diplomats expressed concerns and joined the Council’s _expression_ of solidarity with Qatar. I think that Trump realized he had to side with Qatar on this or put at risk any possibility of progress in getting support for the Abraham Accords from the Gulf Arabs.
I had a good chat with Garland Nixon today. We started off by discussing Charlie Kirk's horrific death, but also touched on the situation with Qatar and Trump's failure to get the Europeans to impose tariffs.
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