In that case, he backed the wrong candidate for president
Today I learned about how, early in his first term, Trump told his son-in-law Jared Kushner to select a trade advisor, giving him a few vague ideas. Kushner searched Amazon for these terms and one of the first results was Death by China, by Peter Navarro. This is reportedly how this guy was hired. Navarro often cites an supposed expert, "Ron Vara" to back up his claims. It turns our "Ron Vara" does not exist and is just the anagram of "Navarro". The trouble is Navarro believes every import decreases the GDP of the US, an idea every economist except him seems to know is incorrect since at least the 19th century if not earlier.
Wild story.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/doesn-t-exist-maddow...
One would think a "genius" like Elon Musk would be better at choosing who he supports when so much is at stake... One would be wrong.
It's not like there was a zero-tariff situation before Trump's second term
* 5% avg tariff + then 20% avg VAT
So, 5% tariffs.
No he's not
Also, I mean, realistically most stuff that Europe buys from the US isn’t _final consumer products_; the VAT gets applied further down the chain. I’m struggling to think of a major US import that _is_ a final consumer product. Some alcohol, I suppose?
(Also, per the World Bank, the EU’s weighted effective tariffs (ie based on what is actually traded) are 1.39% (a little lower than the US’s pre-Trump II positioning); not sure where you got 5%.)