[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Velina Tchakarova [@vtchakarova](/creator/twitter/vtchakarova) on x 181.9K followers Created: 2025-07-13 06:52:58 UTC ‼️Macron’s Rhetoric of “Retaliation” Risks is Re-enacting a Dangerous Cycle of Strategic Overreach‼️ President Macron’s call for an EU counter-strike against the Trump administration on trade and tariffs is the third act in a pattern that should already trouble European policymakers and citizens. 1.The Kremlin Episode (2022). Macron invested marathon sessions with Vladimir Putin in the time before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Paris framed the effort as high-stakes shuttle diplomacy; Moscow pocketed the optics and proceeded with the assault undeterred. 2.The Beijing Episode (2023). In April 2023 Macron arrived in Beijing to an extravagant reception. The trip produced headline-grabbing remarks in which he warned that Europe must not become a “vassal” of Washington or be “drawn into a U.S.–China conflict over Taiwan.” The backlash from transatlantic partners was swift, and the visit yielded no measurable moderation of China’s posture on Ukraine - or Taiwan. 3.The Washington Episode (2025). Today, Macron signals that Brussels should prepare punitive measures to “show strength” if Donald Trump follows through on his tariff brinkmanship. Yet Europe’s structural position has shifted dramatically since 2020. Having lost Russian energy, outsourced much of its industrial supply chain, rare earths and profuction to China, and doubled down on the U.S. security umbrella, the European Union now faces triple dependence on America- energy diversification supported by U.S. LNG and technology, defense backstopped by NATO, and financial resilience underwritten by dollar liquidity. Macron’s Sorbonne warning that “Europe is mortal” was meant to galvanize strategic autonomy; paradoxically, his retaliatory rhetoric risks positioning the EU between three incompatible geopolitical imperatives: •Economic survival that still hinges on unfettered access to U.S. markets and technology during a period of accelerated defense re-industrialization. •Geopolitical credibility vis-à-vis Russia, which requires unbroken transatlantic unity while the war in Ukraine grinds on. •Long-term hedging against Chinese geoeconomic leverage, which cannot succeed if Paris undercuts the common front on Beijing’s coercive trade practices. In short, the impulse to brandish US tariff reprisals may satisfy domestic political optics but collides with Europe’s current leverage deficit. A strategy that begins with antagonizing Washington - while Moscow and Beijing consolidate their “Dragon-Bear” alignment - risks repeating the failures of 2022 and 2023 on a far costlier scale. For the EU to escape the specter of “mortal decline,” it must align ambition with capability: rebuild industrial and defense capacity first, then negotiate from strength, not symbolism. XXXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [vladimir putin](/topic/vladimir-putin) [kremlin](/topic/kremlin) [tariffs](/topic/tariffs) [donald trump](/topic/donald-trump) [counter strike](/topic/counter-strike) [Post Link](https://x.com/vtchakarova/status/1944288929101869199)
[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]
Velina Tchakarova @vtchakarova on x 181.9K followers
Created: 2025-07-13 06:52:58 UTC
‼️Macron’s Rhetoric of “Retaliation” Risks is Re-enacting a Dangerous Cycle of Strategic Overreach‼️
President Macron’s call for an EU counter-strike against the Trump administration on trade and tariffs is the third act in a pattern that should already trouble European policymakers and citizens. 1.The Kremlin Episode (2022). Macron invested marathon sessions with Vladimir Putin in the time before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Paris framed the effort as high-stakes shuttle diplomacy; Moscow pocketed the optics and proceeded with the assault undeterred. 2.The Beijing Episode (2023). In April 2023 Macron arrived in Beijing to an extravagant reception. The trip produced headline-grabbing remarks in which he warned that Europe must not become a “vassal” of Washington or be “drawn into a U.S.–China conflict over Taiwan.” The backlash from transatlantic partners was swift, and the visit yielded no measurable moderation of China’s posture on Ukraine - or Taiwan. 3.The Washington Episode (2025). Today, Macron signals that Brussels should prepare punitive measures to “show strength” if Donald Trump follows through on his tariff brinkmanship. Yet Europe’s structural position has shifted dramatically since 2020. Having lost Russian energy, outsourced much of its industrial supply chain, rare earths and profuction to China, and doubled down on the U.S. security umbrella, the European Union now faces triple dependence on America- energy diversification supported by U.S. LNG and technology, defense backstopped by NATO, and financial resilience underwritten by dollar liquidity.
Macron’s Sorbonne warning that “Europe is mortal” was meant to galvanize strategic autonomy; paradoxically, his retaliatory rhetoric risks positioning the EU between three incompatible geopolitical imperatives: •Economic survival that still hinges on unfettered access to U.S. markets and technology during a period of accelerated defense re-industrialization. •Geopolitical credibility vis-à-vis Russia, which requires unbroken transatlantic unity while the war in Ukraine grinds on. •Long-term hedging against Chinese geoeconomic leverage, which cannot succeed if Paris undercuts the common front on Beijing’s coercive trade practices.
In short, the impulse to brandish US tariff reprisals may satisfy domestic political optics but collides with Europe’s current leverage deficit. A strategy that begins with antagonizing Washington - while Moscow and Beijing consolidate their “Dragon-Bear” alignment - risks repeating the failures of 2022 and 2023 on a far costlier scale. For the EU to escape the specter of “mortal decline,” it must align ambition with capability: rebuild industrial and defense capacity first, then negotiate from strength, not symbolism.
XXXXXX engagements
Related Topics vladimir putin kremlin tariffs donald trump counter strike