By Manuel Pagura Ghioni
“You know, Quasimodo predicted all this“, Bobby Bacala
I found myself entering the office just as tariffs rose by 50%. My phone buzzed. Moments later, my American colleague (from Miami, Texas) celebrated Trump’s diplomacy. He argued that Europeans misunderstand the essence of U.S. foreign policy, favouring balance-of-power theories, whereas American diplomacy is rooted in a belief system: that the U.S. has the world’s best system of government, and that global peace and prosperity depend on others following its lead (Kissinger, 1995, Diplomacy). This faith, he explained, emerged alongside the globalisation of international relations, instant communications, and interconnected economies. No longer protected by two oceans, America assumed the mantle of the world’s beacon. “We dare to pay any price and bear any burden,” he reminded me, quoting Kennedy, to defend its ideals. I wasn’t in the mood for his preaching, but I couldn’t let it stand unchallenged. I pointed out that European economies remain less affected by recent global shocks than many others. More importantly, I added, the current geopolitical and economic context offers the European Union a strategic window. By following the Draghi Report’s recommendations on enhancing EU competitiveness, the EU can meaningfully strengthen the euro’s international role. He did not care, so I walked away.
As I stepped into the small elevator beside the office, that mechanical threshold between work and the polis, I felt a sense of freedom. Only with a floor to go did I realise that the French cleaning lady was also there. She seemed as cheerful as one could be. Smiling from head to toes, she told me that the tariffs were now down again. This was, according to her, the first step towards a “zero-tariff zone situation.”. Do not be mad at Trump behaviour, she added in perfect french, “In America, most of the rich began by being poor; almost all the idle were, in their youth, busy people, from which it follows that, when one could have the taste for study, one does not have the time to devote oneself to it; and that, when one has acquired the time to devote oneself to it, one no longer has the taste for it” (Tocqueville. 1835, p 50). Helas! I thought. Both of her claims can be easily debunked. The former because European politicians have no appetite for such a deal, and the latter, since Trump was already born within “l’obscurité la plus profonde” not the obscurity of poverty, as Tocqueville described, but rather the shadowy comfort of inherited wealth (For a deeper understanding go to Tocqueville, 1835, p. 49). Deprived of the time required for a proper rebuttal—as the elevator had already reached its floor—I simply muttered a phrase that, though brief, captured the dissonance between political rhetoric and reality, “la politique m’apparaît comme une sinistre rigolade” (Weil, 1951). The doors opened, and I stepped out.
It was a lovely day. The bright sun and the chirping birds created the impression that this afternoon belonged not to the present, but to a miraculously reappeared past (Pasolini, 1992). Suddenly, everything changed. The sky turned black, the rain flooded the streets, and people quickened their steps. I could hear her, the cleaning lady, screaming “Autoritas, non Veritas facit legem (Hobbes, 1651)”, as she ran away. One block from home, I passed my neighbour, who was in tears. When I asked him why, he told me that tariffs had just risen by 50%, that he worked in the automobile industry in Germany, and that they would be hit the hardest. “And honestly,” he added with a bitter laugh, “I never trusted Trump. Anyone who grew up hustling real estate in New York against some of the sharpest, toughest, and most vicious people in the world, and beating them” (Trump, 1987). So he continued, he is bound to know a trick or two about bending the rules and making the system dance to his tune. He likewise observed that style is the answer to everything (Bukowski, 1968), a maxim which, if true, casts a peculiar light upon the Trump administration, whose manner more aptly evokes that of a character from The Sopranos than that of a President of the United States. I laughed about it upon entering home, and tried to calm him down by explaining that this tariff uncertainty will probably prompt the European institutions to actively implement the Automotive Action Plan to strengthen European manufacturing. He did not want to hear any of it, so we parted.
Entering home, I thought about reading a book, watching a film, or, worst of all, sleeping, when my Argentine mother called me. One could have felt the excitement that came out of the phone, when he told me that given the growing uncertainties that the Trump Model is bringing to the European Economy, Striking a trade deal with Latin America’s Mercosur bloc would be a “massive opportunity” for the European Union, and for our beloved Argentina. She told me to remember that the US is less important than the EU as a trading partner for almost all the countries in our region (Sheila Page, 1999). I agreed with her excitement, and added that this would mean to establish one of the world’s biggest free trade zones, encompassing 750 million people and about one-fifth of the global economy, amidst the hostile environment that the world is facing right now this would be the equivalent of a miracle that would allow both continents to stop the dependency on the US. We said goodbye with a rare but mutual feeling: for once, it seemed possible, maybe even likely, that we could have higher expectations for the future of our region.
As I was writing the last paragraph, I could hear the phone vibrate against the table. Tariffs went down again.
And I don’t know what to think.
About the author
Manuel Pagura Ghioni is a Spanish-Argentine legal scholar and political writer. He writes on power, law, and democracy in Europe and the Americas. His focus spans public international law, European, and global politics. He holds a law degree cum laude from the University of Buenos Aires. He is completing a Master’s in European Studies at Gothenburg University, where he worked at the Quality of Government Institute. Born in Buenos Aires. Based in Gothenburg.
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