Tremonti: "Trump's letter is misguided, the EU is too submissive. React to tariffs on internet taxation."

"Trump's letter, which is completely flawed, is only partially true. We are the leading market, leading in digital and finance, but now you have to give us back the manufacturing lost to America, certainly not through Europe's fault." Giulio Tremonti , Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Affairs Committee, told Il Sole 24 Ore . "First of all, curiously, the letter was addressed to Brussels, which Trump called 'Your country.' Paradoxically, Trump is more European than the recipients of the letter; this aspect is very amusing."

On the EU's part, "I would call it fatalism, incompetence, and submission. Look at China's behavior: threat (from Trump), (robust) reaction, agreement. The EU thought it was stronger than China, expecting a 10% additional tariff. The 30% arrived. Meanwhile, and to please Washington, the EU gave in on the Global Minimum Tax (along with Canada, coincidentally another major target of Trump's), refusing to apply it unilaterally to US companies. A serious mistake, now the issue of the internet and the digital economy remains open. Trump fears EU rules on the internet, including the AI issue, and internet taxation. It's an important negotiating front."

"What will the effects of August 1st on the Italian economy be? We're the world's fourth-largest exporter. This war is disrupting the market and will obviously also affect exports. Our exports are highly technical, high-value, and especially those that are most affected by the new, near-global tariffs."

"The first indicator to watch is Wall Street, which for the US means not only finance but also the people. In Italian, we could say that Wall Street is the nation's INPS. If the clash with the EU leads to a collapse of the American stock market, then we will immediately see political effects." Now the EU "should restart from the correct idea of Maastricht in 1992, which had a positive effect on the single currency. " A mistake, however, would be "excessive regulation," he concludes.