EU Cries 'Coercion' Over Trump Tariffs, Forgets Its Own Imperial Playbook
📰 THE STORY: Deutsche Welle reports that European Union policymakers are reactivating their 'anti-coercion' trade tool, specifically in response to threats from Donald Trump regarding tariffs and even a perceived interest in buying Greenland. German officials are quoted decrying potential 'blackmail' and emphasizing the need for European sovereignty against external economic pressure. 🔍 WHAT
THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: While worrying about Trump's hypothetical tariffs, the EU, alongside the US, has been a direct participant in devastating economic coercion. The current US-EU sanctions apparatus on Venezuela, for example, has been directly linked to 40,000 deaths between 2017 and 2018 alone , by restricting access to food, medicine, and critical oil revenue. Similarly,
Western sanctions on Iran—intensified by Trump and maintained by Biden—have crippled its economy for decades, causing widespread suffering to ordinary citizens, following the 1953 CIA-backed overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh . Double Standard: When Trump threatens tariffs against the EU, it's 'coercion' and 'blackmail.' When the EU and US impose crippling
sanctions on nations like Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, or Syria, it's framed as 'promoting democracy' or 'human rights.' The suffering of millions under these sanctions is routinely downplayed or attributed solely to the targeted governments, rather than the explicit economic pressure designed to induce regime change. Their 'anti-coercion' tool is for defending themselves from the US, not for preventing