After listening to and reading the media over the last days, it may be prudent to rely on what politicians do and not what they say. The media seems to be interested in commentating only on what they say. This certainly is borne out with Mr Trump’s recent visit to Brussels, London and Helsinki. Amazingly we have heard little or nothing from the media over these last days of what may be soon upon us; a one trillion dollar trade deal between the US and the EU. Also we have heard little of Mr Juncker’s return visit to Washington last week.
Over the last weeks, when Mr Trump visited London, Brussels and Helsinki, the media howled with protests against the American president’s manner of behaviour, and his interpersonal communication style. They even accused him of keeping the Queen of England waiting 12 minutes, which later turned out to be untrue, but this error by the media, like so many, was never really corrected. It is hard, I accept, to like the brash and abrasive style of the American president, but we should look for his positives, and not be always focusing on his shortcomings.
Now we find Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, in Washington last week, negotiating a proposed new trade deal between the US and EU which could surpass the one trillion mark, according to a number of sources. This is possibly the biggest trade deal ever to be negotiated and, yet, there is little media coverage. Both sides have agreed to work towards zero tariffs on industrial goods apart from cars, which will have to be sorted separately. In this respect, presently the EU imposes a 10% tariff on American imported cars into the EU, while the US tariffs on European cars into the US is only 2.5%. To show good will, Mr Juncker has agreed to allow the importation, almost immediately, of liquefied natural gas and soybeans. It now seems that a peaceful solution can be found to reducing the trade imbalance between the EU and US, and that the trade war heralded by our social liberal media in Europe may never happen.
Mr Trump has managed, on this trip, to get his fellow NATO members to agree to pay up, to begin negotiations for a new one trillion trade deal with the EU, and to open relations with Russia. Interesting! Perhaps it is time we began watching what people actually ‘do’, rather than concentrating on how well they communicate with their audiences and play the media; action over words.