Did Europe Just Surrender to Trump?

The David McWilliams Podcast

David McWilliams

News & Politics

4.6 • 643 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Not so fast! We unpack the surprise EU-US trade deal that has everyone shouting sellout but we see it differently. In this episode, we take a deeper look at what really went down in the Trump-triggered tariff negotiations. The headlines scream defeat: Europe folds, Trump wins, 15% tariffs slapped on all EU goods while the US gets full access to the European market. But is that the full story? We break it down, the EU runs a $200 billion trade surplus with the US. So why would they agree to this? Because sometimes in poker, the smartest move is folding a bad hand to fight another day. We also lift the lid on the civil war brewing within Europe: the Commission vs. the member states, nationalism vs. federalism, free trade idealism vs. geopolitical realism. Germany wants to protect its cars. France its booze. Ireland? Our pharma sector’s now hanging in the balance. We talk street-fighting Trump vs. rulebook Europe, why this deal might actually be good news for investment in Ireland.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Mac, just before we start, I was on Amazon looking for a little beach read, you know,
0:06.5	and lo and behold, look what I see.
0:10.1	David McWilliams, money, a story of humanity at number one, beating the likes of J.D. Vance
0:17.0	and his hillbilly elegy and Ezra Klein.
0:20.1	Dave McWilliams, number one, boom.
0:22.4	This is the economics version of Top of the Pops.
0:25.5	You can have a whole lot of love soundtrack in the back.
0:29.0	But yes, no, you're right.
0:29.9	It's great to see that money is number one in the Amazon bestsellers in the UK
0:37.3	under the area of economic history, which is fantastic.
0:42.4	Again, thank you so much listeners for supporting the book, for buying the book, for buying the
0:47.2	audiobook. It's really great to see. And it is kind of nice to be number one ahead of the likes
0:53.0	of J.D. Vance and even Ezra Klein,
0:55.8	who I respect in New York Times, but who comes with a massive, massive audience.
1:00.1	So again, thank you very much.
1:02.2	And if you haven't bought your summer, read if in August you're heading off now to the beach,
1:06.6	you're thinking, what should I grab?
1:08.6	What should I read?
1:09.8	Grab money, a story of humanity. You will not
1:12.8	be disappointed, and that is from an unbiased reviewer, the fellow who wrote the bloody thing.
1:21.4	Hey, it's Adam Grant from Worklife, a podcast from TED. This episode is brought to you by FreshWorks.
1:27.8	Freshworks believes the complexity is the enemy of efficiency, so stop wrestling with bloated
	...

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