1. 🌾 BRUSSELS IS BILLING THEIR OWN FARMERS INTO OBLIVION

The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was created to protect European industry. Instead, it’s quietly crushing the people who grow Europe’s food. A major farming group warns the carbon tariff on fertilizer imports could cost European farmers up to €39 billion over the next seven years.

The squeeze on farmers is already real. Groups like Copa-Cogeca estimate direct CBAM costs at €820 million in 2026, rising to €3.4 billion by 2034. If European fertilizer producers respond to reduced competition by hiking prices too, the total bill climbs toward that €39 billion ceiling.

This comes on top of nitrogen fertilizer prices already up 30%-60% in recent years due to global energy volatility. Meanwhile, some competing imports arrive under looser standards, with no equivalent environmental burden, no mirror clauses, and no level playing field.

Brussels is mandating a green transition that European farmers are being forced to fund alone.

2. 🇩🇪 MERZ JOINS EUROPE’S COALITION OF THE UNPOPULAR

Friedrich Merz spent his first year as German Chancellor lecturing the world on foreign policy while his country fell apart at home. His reward: the lowest approval rating of any major European leader. Just 11% of Germans say they are satisfied with the government’s performance, with a crushing 87% unhappy, and that dissatisfaction cuts across even his own party’s base.

According to YouGov, Merz sits at a staggering minus 52, edging out France’s Emmanuel Macron (minus 49) and Britain’s Keir Starmer (minus 44) for the title of most despised leader on the continent. Not even supporters of his own party think he’s doing a good job. German news has reported cracks inside the coalition, with talk of early dissolution and a snap election already circulating.

Europe’s ruling class is unpopular, out of touch, and running out of time. Brussels can’t fix what its own leaders broke.

🚗 EU INFIGHTING AS TRADE DEAL DEADLINE LOOMS

The US struck a transatlantic trade framework deal with the EU last year, but Brussels still can’t get its act together enough to finalize it. Nearly a year later, the bloc is locked in an internal standoff over auto tariffs with no resolution in sight. Left-wing MEPs led by trade committee chair Bernd Lange are blocking ratification, while Germany and the Commission are desperate to get the deal with the US across the finish line before increased tariffs on European autos supports are official.

Member countries are struggling to come to a consensus among themselves on the common framework. Far-left Spain wants to insert “safeguard” amendments into the deal, but Germany opposes any new amendments that could antagonize President Trump, since their automotive sector will be one of the hardest hit.

France is seeking to find the common ground between their neighbors, but little progress has been made.

The Commission is left pleading that “a deal is a deal” while its own Parliament plays games. The EU can’t negotiate with the rest of the world when it can’t even negotiate with itself. Brussels built this mess, and European workers are living in it.