Eight European countries face 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

US institutions, courts, and authoritarian drift

  • Many argue the US system is being stress‑tested and relies too much on “honor” norms; checks and balances look weak when a party closes ranks around a president.
  • Some hope the Supreme Court will rein in “national security” tariffs; others think the court and political class are too captured or fearful to act.
  • Comparisons are made to pre‑WWII appeasement and early fascist land grabs (Sudetenland, Austria), with Greenland cast as a similar test case.

Media, radicalization, and Trump’s motives

  • Commenters blame right‑wing media, social media, and long‑running propaganda ecosystems for normalizing Trump and demonizing opponents.
  • Others push back on simplistic “Fox did it” narratives, noting Fox often clashed with Trump but still shaped the audience that empowered him.
  • Trump’s fixation on literally “owning” Greenland is seen as ego and legacy—wanting territorial expansion in his name—rather than security or commercial logic.

NATO, EU defense, and security guarantees

  • There is anxiety about NATO’s integrity and whether it functions if the US is the aggressor.
  • Some stress the EU’s own mutual‑defence clause, arguing it is more binding than NATO’s Article 5 and may matter more if US reliability collapses.
  • Debate over whether Europe can deter Russia alone: some say yes with ramped‑up industry; others emphasize deterrence is about perceived, not actual, strength.

Tariffs, legal quirks, and possible EU countermeasures

  • Tariffs targeted at specific EU states are seen as both coercive and technically awkward inside a single market; commenters discuss routing exports via untariffed EU members or intermediaries.
  • Several predict EU retaliation: digital services taxes, the Anti‑Coercion Instrument, limits on IP protections, or shelving the EU‑US trade deal.
  • Others warn aggressive IP moves could trigger US counter‑seizures of European assets and intense pressure from European oligarchs tied into US markets.

Erosion of trust and slow decoupling from the US

  • Many Europeans say trust in the US as ally and business partner is “burned”; they expect a long, one‑way pivot to more autonomy and diversification (e.g., away from AWS, towards EU‑based infrastructure).
  • There is discussion of broader realignment: EU–Mercosur, EU–India, Canada–China, and a possible multipolar order where “America first” becomes “America alone.”
  • Some foresee lasting reputational damage: even after Trump, institutional reforms would be needed before trust can return, and those are seen as unlikely.