Well....in the middle of March 2017....it was the first initial meeting between Chancellor Merkel and President Trump. Trump walked in with one central theme and topic.....he wanted to talk trade and commerce, and what he perceived was a unfair situation on German tariffs that existed. This meeting would NOT have been necessary if the EU and the US in the mid-summer period of 2016....gone and completed their 'nifty' trade agreement. I should comment here....as the secret talks reaching an end-stage....various individuals from countries across the EU....walked in and read the points, and then said 'no way'.
So as we stand here in June of 2019.....as of yet, there is no EU trade treaty with the US. What remains are individual country trade agreements worked out over the past decades. And it's a fairly strong chance that NO trade will ever occur between the EU and the US....ever.
So as this meeting started up.....Trump brought up the tariffs and trade situations, and Merkel just bluntly looked at him and said you need to deal with the EU. We can do nothing.
Most business analyst will (from the German side) will strongly suggest that Merkel knows a few basic things about the German economy, but has no real strength on the topic. She relies upon individuals within the cabinet to run the economical pieces and parts of the German system.
By pushing Trump back....she figured that the EU would give him the message that the trade talks had collapsed and nothing would occur.
So when this tactic came up with the EU.....Trump said 'fine'.....let's have a tariff situation on various EU products and and affect 28 different countries. The EU officials weren't expecting that.
As the weeks went by....various industry folks came to their leadership in the 28 countries....mostly avoiding the EU, and suggesting that this really needed to be worked out. The German car industry? They were on the blunt end of being harshly affected.
Merkel calmly realizing the situation leading back to her handling? No....that never happened. In her belief (supported likely by ex-President Obama).....Trump just doesn't grasp diplomacy and intellectualism. The response here.....that's correct, Trump understands business and commerce. Either all tariffs need to end, or effective new tariffs to settle problem go into place.
Once these tariffs go into place? German companies like BMW, Mercedes and Audi will be affected. There are suggestions that they may go and start to increase car production in Mexico, or increase their production within the US. That means some German jobs will disappear, and some jobs will start up in either Mexico or the US.
Improving any of this? No.
There's this odd feature of German intellectualism going on presently, which believes that Trump will be voted out in 2020. If that doesn't happen, then he will leave in 2024. At no point do they grasp the point that a 2nd Trump-like character could appear in 2024, and be there for an additional eight years. So this childish and intellectualism game is really set to screw a bunch of folks over in the long run.
And the EU resolving this with a US-EU treaty? It'll never happen.
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