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Comment by slow_typist | Hacker News Reader

Europe hasn’t grown some balls yet and I am afraid they will roll over again.

I'd predict the same but france had partial fuel shortages recently (maybe still?) and there's a limit to what they can do without torches getting lit.

LePen is probably salivating at the thought of EU caving to USA again. She would win by landslide next year if that will happen at any noticeable scale.

PS: in Poland fuel prices went up by exactly +50% from January. I wonder how far they'll go if the Demented Don would win over this threat.

On the other hand, the thought of further diesel price increases are probably making Le Pen salivate to the point drowning starts to be a concern.

Well, the point is that by not gifting diesel fuel to Trump, EU can stabilize fuel prices internally to a lower level using same emergency reserves. At least if I got the post right.

He wants the EU to "release", ie. to sell to Europeans, the diesel fuel.

Clearly the French are currently in need of extra fuel: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cmx2z20vz124t

It’s crazy how the EU just keeps doing the same things but hoping for different results.

Meanwhile, China, responded firmly and has come out even better against Trump.

European economies are suffering (and have been since COVID), and russia is a much bigger threat to deal with, so the EU is always trying to take the big boy role and be friendly to get as much as possible. Confrontation would be disastrous for us, and it would be cutting our noses to spite the orange guy who wouldn't get it anyways. When red lines were about to be crossed (Greenland), there was a strong response, but for the rest it's easier to handwave

Meanwhile more strategic autonomy is being built up, but it will take years; when one of Trump's sons is president, we'll be in a better position to properly stand up.

Careful with the suffering trope. GDP growth in 2025 was 1.4 % [1]. Even under the external oil price shock, projection for 2026 is >0.

Of course, in the periphery that is not good enough. For developed economies like Germany, France that is a totally normal growth rate. The allocation is the problem, very few people can’t get enough while the middle class is under pressure and the rest has real problems to pay their rents and food. Real growth can only be had by increasing local consumption and/or expansion of governmental spending.

That being said, I agree with your analysis.

[1] https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2026/06/oecd-economic-o...

Fun fact...if your GDP growth is less than your rate of inflation (currently 3.8%), then your economy is shrinking and you are getting poorer. This also means your standard of living is decreasing.

That would hold up comparing nominal GDPs of subsequent years. GDP growth rates are adjusted for inflation.

Goodhart's law suggests that's not entirely true. GDP is an imperfect measure, and doesn't capture how anxious people are, how happy and content they are. It doesn't measure how much hope they have for the future. It doesn't say how much more or less you make than your brother-in-law.

> Europe hasn’t grown some balls yet and I am afraid they will roll over again.

Too late.. US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada have already agreed to a coordinated release of 100 million barrels of crude oil and diesel through the IEA.

This is such a ridiculous example of the live to fight another day mentality of the Trump administration. They try to survive for the next 24 hour news cycle, totally neglecting what might happen in 3 months.

I suppose after that, it's not going to be a problem for Trump after 32 days..

I guess everybody is waiting for the midterms and Trump becoming a lame duck.

Drumpt is just a pawn anyway, lets not pretend this would have not happened with all the eptstein class politicians.

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