Morning! Today’s lead story by the New York Times’ Brussels bureau chief Jeanna Smialek is yet another tariff story. I say this because nobody cares about tariffs. What they want is for Donald Trump to stop tanking their savings by threatening tariffs he won’t have the will to enforce, as he did yet again last Friday. They do not want to read about, think about or frankly, ever hear about tariffs again. Honestly I think Trump just keeps bringing them up like a verbal tic when he has nothing else horrific, violent, racist, or otherwise offensive to say.

If you read a partial transcript of his Memorial Day remarks at West Point Military Academy, you certainly won’t be more optimistic. The man is just so dangerously nuts.

Idiot wakes up. Idiot is bored. Idiot gets on social media. Idiot talks tariffs or some other nonsense. Everybody hopes we don’t get involved in a Nuclear War because of idiot. Repeat.

I had a depressing realization this weekend. I was born in 1979. If I’m lucky I might see 2079, but the odds are high I’ll be gone by then. Eight years (and no more, I continue to hope) of my life will have been spent under Trump presidencies getting furious about this stuff. I’m doing my best to live a constructive and positive life regardless of it, but that’s difficult because he’s doing his best to make this country difficult for everyone who lives here, for years.

This weekend Trump said Vladimir Putin was “crazy” for launching an aerial assault on Ukraine. Putin says he’s showing signs of “emotional overload.” That’s dangerous and messy on another level indeed. What’s next? I can only imagine.

I’ve never been a protester. My dad grew up in Yorkshire and passed on some of his stoicism. I might not like the way things are, often, but I wasn’t posh enough to protest the imposition of tuition fees at my British university. My theory was I needed a degree so I could get a job. We didn’t have any family friends who could get me in at the BBC. I couldn’t get thrown out of college on principle and land on my feet like some of my compatriots. I’ve seen parallels between my experience and some of the protests at elite universities over Gaza recently.

Lately I’ve placed the fact that my kid needs to eat before most political considerations. It’s prevented me from being too controversial and reined in my wilder impulses.

Still. I was talking with a friend over the weekend about a 2022 Disney+ show called “Andor,” which apart from being set in the “Star Wars” universe (ugh) is created by Tony Gilroy, who wrote and directed “Michael Clayton” and one of the Bourne movies. It’s about a “young man who becomes rebellious under a repressive regime,” my friend said. Honestly I think that just by reading the newspaper every day, I might also be going through something similar. It’s disturbing. Just knowing what is going on in the country and resisting the impulse to tune out because it’s exhausting and demoralizing puts me in a new position. Are you going through something similar? Or have you tuned out already? The more I read the more inclined I am to do so, too. But I feel like living in this country is like being in the yoga pose, Warrior Two. You learn more by staying in the posture than you do by giving into your impulse to collapse. It takes discipline and practice.

Today’s paper also includes an obituary about a director whose documentary film, “The Sorrow and The Pity”, exploded the myth of widespread French resistance during World War II. It’s a great piece and it makes me want to see the movie.

The French banned the film until 1981 because their fragile national self-image couldn’t face the truth. No wonder Emanuel Macron says he and his wife were “just joking” during this encounter. They love a bit of revisionism over there just like we do over here, it seems.

Another story in today’s paper is about how electric taxis and other vehicles died in New York City a century ago.

Okay. Back to the lead news story, which underscores the complexities of U.S.–E.U. trade negotiations, which remain at an impasse despite recent efforts to reinvigorate talks.

Trump has delayed a 50 percent threatened E.U. tariff implementation until July 9, giving both sides a chance to seek a resolution, but entrenched disagreements and unresolved issues threaten to derail progress. With the deadline looming, the stakes are high not only for the United States and European Union but also for the broader global economy.

After President Trump’s announcement of a delay in tariff implementation this weekend, officials on both sides expressed optimism about the potential for progress in talks. Trump said on Truth Social: “Talks will begin rapidly,” following his phone conversation with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. Similarly, Paula Pinho, the European Commission's spokeswoman, reflected on the leaders' discussions positively, calling them “a new impetus for the negotiations.”

But.

The key challenge in any U.S.–E.U. trade talks is a stark divergence in priorities. The Trump administration has made demands that European officials have repeatedly rebuffed. For instance, Trump’s team has called for changes to Europe’s consumption tax system and a rollback of strict digital regulations governing social media and technology companies. E.U. policymakers have firmly said that such demands are “not on the table.” Meanwhile, the E.U. aims to negotiate reduced tariffs and has offered what it calls a "zero-for-zero" strategy — removing tariffs on industrial goods altogether— as a potential starting point.

“I struggle to see what grounds there would be for changing tack on any of this,” said Andrew Small, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, raising skepticism about meaningful progress in talks.

While European negotiators remain committed to finding a resolution, they are also preparing for the possibility of failure. Olof Gill, a European Commission spokesman, highlighted the dual approach of negotiations and readiness: “We’re very focused on making negotiations work, but we are also doing preparatory work in case they do not,” he told the Times.

This preparation includes refining retaliatory tariff lists that would target American industries if talks collapse, including things like machinery, soybeans, and bourbon. Officials have released two lists of goods — one worth around $23 billion and another, still being finalized, worth $107 billion — showcasing the scale of potential tariff measures. For context that second list is worth about one third of Elon Musk’s net worth. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Reducing the trade imbalance remains central to the negotiations. President Trump has long expressed frustration that the E.U. sells more goods to American consumers than it purchases from U.S. companies. In part that’s because as we all know, Europe is more refined and tasteful and unless it’s bourbon or soybeans, makes better products. I was looking today for a new lamp for the bedroom and struck by the high comparative cost of an imported Anglepoise, for example, compared to U.S.-made products. But I still wanted the Anglepoise.

And if you’ve been to the Olivetti museum on St. Mark’s Square in Venice you’ll realize the Italians fetishize their obsolete products…

…to a degree that Americans barely approach with their “oh my god, I still have my vintage iPod” nonsense, albeit bowing down to British designer Sir Jony Ive as if he were some sort of genius when really all he ever did, as far as I’m concerned, is package up Apple technology in some well-shaped plastic. And don’t get me started on the cheese.

To address this, European policymakers have offered to buy increased quantities of liquefied natural gas and “advanced microchips” from the United States. It’s seen as a way to mitigate the trade deficit. It’s also a way for Europe to be less dependent on Russia for liquefied natural gas at a time when Russia is increasingly, you know…bent on starting a nuclear war.

However, European policymakers acknowledge that fully eliminating the trade gap may not be feasible. Bernd Lange, head of the Committee for International Trade in the European Parliament, admitted as much, telling the Times: “I do not believe that we will be able to reduce everything to zero.”

If only America could prioritize quality manufacturing by developing a domestic workforce willing to produce quality products. I genuinely sound like Trump here, asking for Apple to make its iPhones in Texas. Of course we can’t do that because we don’t have the workforce and because if we did, they’d demand fair wages to manufacture those products, and an iPhone would cost $3,000.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if America could be Europe. Or if we could all like Apple products less. I think that could be a major breakthrough, honestly. But I can’t see myself switching phones or laptops or watches. So it is what it is. We slouch on.

The U.S.–E.U. trade tensions also unfold within the broader geopolitical landscape. While other nations, such as Britain and China, have managed to negotiate deals with the Trump administration to reduce some of the harsher tariff measures, the European Union has struggled to secure similar terms. Best of luck all round, I say. And I’m sure Trump will have threatened somebody else with something else before too long.

Thanks for letting me read the newspaper so that you don’t have to.

Say, is there a story that might cheer me up a bit?

Sure. They’re teaching this orphaned bear to be a bear by pretending to be a bear.

Matt Davis lives in Manhattan with his wife and kid.

Standard disclaimer: I read the top story in the New York Times every morning so that you don’t have to. If you were forwarded this, you can subscribe here. I’m also doing a five-minute video version of this, each weekday morning at around 9 a.m. (depending on how long it takes me to read the newspaper). If you’d like to follow me on LinkedIn (you can always watch the recording later). If you subscribe to my Youtube channel it’ll also send you a notification when I’m “going live.”