Mercosur is comprised of the big economies of Latin America. They've been trying to craft an acceptable free trade deal with the EU for over two decades. The other day it cleared its next to last hurdle, and it looks like the agricultural and environmental hold-outs are going to sign on (the big one being France, which was concerned about protecting its farmers).

That this is an endrun around US tariff policies for all involved is clear enough: they are reducing tariffs to 0 on a massive slate of items. The EU and Mercosur countries are essentially finding ways to avoid having to deal with US markets, or to significantly reduce dependence on them. To be fair, there's also a desire on the part of the EU to reduce tech infrastructure (battery) dependence on China.

Apart from a few desultory Reuters stories, this massive development has been all but ignored in the US press. Now, it has not been completely finalized yet, but it really looks likely to pass now after 25 years of hand-wringing. I mean, thanks, Trumpy! Way to create trading blocs that really want to avoid US markets! Nice job, buddy.

People are going to carve out ways to make things work. I didn't know about this, so thanks for outlining it.

trump is such an effing idiot he actually thought he could charge to do business with the U.S. Oh yeah, marketing genius that he is.

Lazy asshole is more like it.

world leaders know he's an incompetent revenge-driven preening clown..they know he fancies himself as the ultimate dealmaker (reneging on contracts/threatening contractors/declaring bankruptcy) .. but autocrats also understand Trump's idea of geopolitical dealmaking is "if they say nice things about me I'll give them what you want".. top secret intelligence/permission to occupy another country/weapons/a red carpet welcome...however when it comes to real world problems they know Trump is someone to "work around", with no seat at the adult table... .and so the bad guys make alliances with other bad guys excluding Trump and his team of moronic emissaries.....

... that Trump doesn't pinch a deuce without asking Putin how to fold the toilet paper, and which hand to use.
ALL of this economic destruction, and alienation of former allies, is exactly what Putin told him to do. He's been in Putin's pocket for 30-odd years, but no one in Congress wants to acknowledge it because then they'd have to do something about it. Heaven forfend!

nt*

They probably figured it out during his first term, along with all the other world leaders, but (like all the others) they continued to humor him because of the power and influence of the US. Now that they can clearly see he's doing his best to drag this country into the toilet, economically and otherwise, and that other world leaders have completely stopped taking him seriously, Putin & Co. have concluded that they no longer need to hide their contempt for him.

The fact that the world's strongest dictators are now signaling to the world that they know how weak Schlump is would be deliciously ironic, except for one thing: this also means that they have lost whatever respect they may have once had for America. Schlump's behavior toward Ukraine has clearly demonstrated that the U.S. can no longer be counted on to come to the aid of other democracies that under threat.

Trump has become an international laughingstock, and rightly so. Unfortunately, so has this country, for electing him a second time. I honestly don't blame anyone for viewing the situation that way. That he pulled the wool over enough people's eyes to get elected once was bad enough; but that is a thing that can happen sometimes. I'm sure our allies must have heaved a collective sigh of relief when he lost in 2020, but four years later, American voters did the unthinkable and elected him to a second term, making us all look like blithering idiots.

I see this as a sign that the US is in serious danger of losing the powerful position we've held in the world since at least the end of WWII. I really hope Democrats will have enough sense to use this in their campaigns for House and Senate seats next year.

I don’t see ANYTHING even remotely honorable OR deserving of respect when I look at him. Or WHENEVER I hear his whiny voice.

n/t

At least no one who has been paying attention.

He’s been a shitty clown for at least half a century, buoyed only by the US’ asinine love of the wealthy.

Last edited Fri Sep 5, 2025, 01:42 PM - Edit history (1)

"Murica!

trying for a new global order which involved the US, Russia, China, Middle Eastern states including Israel, and IIRC North Korea.

Not hard to imagine that elements of this survive today...authoritarians agreeing to divide up the world using an infinitely greedy, limited, narcissist for the final push. His neediness to be close to authoritarians surely survives. Certainly these are 'not good men'. But that may not be the end of the story. Questions of 'why' remain and are important.

I'm aware these theories and the writer who championed them is controversial even on DU...not intending to re-litigate him. Just reminding that we can't ignore the forest for the trees.

This was patently obvious from day one.

FFS, the idiot went to NK and left KJU walk all over him.

Something no other would leader would do if they had a gun pointed to their heads.

Why would ANY halfway intelligent person (good or evil) have any respect for this assclown?

We're the ones who put Chump back in the White House.

Well not us on DU, I'm referring to "we Americans" in the larger sense...

when they made him a Russian AssHat. I mean asset.

When Americans finally make the effort to take America back from him, they will then have to work to return America to its former place in the world. That might not happen for a good reason -- because while we were dealing with destruction and repair, the world has moved on. Even with newly elected leaders it will likely take the world a long time to allow us a seat at the table, because our voting seems so inconsistent with world human, humane, and humanitarian values.

Thanks for your post.

…because they are ignoramuses. But he can’t con world leaders.

and journalists would come to the same conclusion.