–CarrZee comment at the bottom
Opinion by Mathew Carr
July 27-28, 2025 — It’s pretty brazen when the people, the taxpayers, are deceived ahead of the world’s biggest trade deal …which the EU-US one …agreed today in Scotland …apparently is.
Most of the mainstream media, biased toward the US, is claiming it’s a win for America.
Don’t speak too soon.
The EU still might place a 15% on US internet services.
Watch out Uber, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta etc.
The deal requires EU-nation approval….which might take months.
And climate negotiations are really important in the background.
Most nations want the G7 to cough up $1 trillion a year sooner rather than later, and the One Big Beautiful Law gives the US plenty of cash.
The fact that the outline of the trade deal “struck” today indicates the west is going to finance each other rather than the rest of the world is all part of the theatrical trade and climate negotiation optics.
UN climate talks take place in November.
At that press conference Monday:
Reuters asked: Regarding the trade talks, the EU said that their recent deal with the U.S. was “not ideal” but “the best” deal that they could get. Would China be willing to accept a sub-optimal deal if that is all that is on the table or is China willing to walk away from the talks if necessary?
Guo Jiakun (China spokesperson): On the trade deal between the U.S. and the EU that you mentioned, let me say that China, as always, believes that all parties should resolve economic and trade differences through equal-footed dialogue, uphold a sound environment for international trade and economic cooperation, and observe the WTO rules. That said, we firmly oppose any party’s move to strike a deal at the cost of China’s interests.
It is far from clear whether that last sentence referred to the lack of “climate justice”, or finance, for emerging nations, indicated by the outline of EU-US deal. That agreement seems to extend the current system, where rich countries mainly look after each other …while the weak “suffer what they must” as the wealthy additionally steal an unfair share of the global carbon budget.
There is also the possibility that the so-called tension between the G7 and the rest of the G20 is completely fake
WordPress AI
Greece wildfires
Time Magazine
Chat GPT (unchecked)
No — the 15% reciprocal tariff agreed in the recent U.S.–EU framework deal applies only to goods, not digital or online services.
Here’s what we know:
The new trade agreement announced on July 27, 2025, sets a 15% tariff on most EU goods entering the U.S.—including cars, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals . It explicitly exempts sectors such as aircraft components, semiconductor equipment, pharmaceuticals, certain agricultural goods, and other selected strategic items under a zero-for-zero scheme . There is no mention of online or digital services—these fall outside the tariff categories and remain under existing trade rules.
In U.S. tariff policy, the so-called “reciprocal” tariffs inaugurated in April 2025 imposed a baseline 10% rate on goods from foreign trading partners, with higher country-specific rates based on trade deficits—but these measures have always excluded services, including digital, according to government analyses and legal frameworks .
Moreover, while U.S. officials have expressed concern over EU digital regulations and threatened retaliation via antitrust or digital taxes (e.g. investigation into DST and EU Digital Services Act), those are regulatory measures—not tariff-based levies on digital services .
✅ Summary:
The 15% tariff applies strictly to physical goods, not services. Online/digital services between the U.S. and EU are not subject to that tariff under this agreement. Any regulatory or tax disputes over digital platforms remain separate and are handled through EU legislation, not U.S. import duties.
Let me know if you’d like to explore how digital services regulations or countermeasures might evolve under this trade dynamic.
CarrZee: On the bright side, there is plenty of scope for the Trump administration to give concessions later this year and claim it had a key role in striking any biting UN climate deal that gets struck. That does not seem likely to happen right now.
Remember, while the US is shunning all things UN, the rules of the Paris climate deal mean it can’t formally leave that until January …about two months after the UN talks in Brazil.
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