1.PRESIDENT TRUMP PUTS EUROPE ON NOTICE OVER DIGITAL SERVICES TAX

President Trump is taking action to stop Europe from using American companies as a piggy bank.

As Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) laid out in a recent Bloomberg Tax op-ed, foreign governments have spent years slapping discriminatory Digital Services Taxes on U.S. firms, to the tune of $2.96 billion annually, and that number could balloon to $117 billion over the next decade. Congressman Estes is taking this issue seriously and making the case clearly: these taxes aren’t policy, they’re a shakedown.

President Trump agrees. Taking to Truth Social, he warned that “numerous European Countries” are on the verge of implementing new DSTs and made clear the consequences: “Any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America.”

This move shouldn’t come as a shock to the EU. President Trump signaled during last year’s tariff fight that he viewed these taxes as inherently unfair, yet European Parliament members kept discussing future implementation anyway. The approach is already working… Canada, India, and more than a dozen other nations have already backed down. France and the UK are next in line.

President Trump’s ultimatum is leverage against an undemocratic tax regime designed from the outset to hurt American businesses operating abroad. U.S. companies built the technologies that connect the world. They aren’t a revenue stream for foreign governments.

2. AS AMERICA TURNS 250, WE STILL DON’T TAKE ORDERS FROM EUROPE

As America approaches its 250th anniversary of declaring its independence, the last thing U.S. businesses should be doing is answering to Brussels.

A recent op-ed from Michael Toth points out that the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) is projected to cost American companies over $1 trillion in compliance costs, ensnaring roughly 4,000 U.S. firms, including 1,000 energy companies, and conscripting them to police their supply chains to meet the EU’s rules.

That’s not a partnership… it’s regulatory colonialism.

Toth writes: “Congress should make it equally clear that the rules governing American businesses will be written by elected representatives in the U.S. — not by bureaucrats in Brussels.”

As the Trump administration works to level the playing field for American workers and businesses, pushing back on overreaching foreign mandates like CS3D isn’t just smart policy, it’s an act of economic patriotism worthy of the moment.

FRANCE’S GREEN ELITE MELTS DOWN, LITERALLY

The heat wave continues…

For years, France’s Green politicians lectured the world about the evils of air conditioning, calling it an environmental sin, a right-wing indulgence, a symbol of excess. Then the thermometer hit 46.8°C (116°F) and suddenly the rules changed.

On June 23rd, France recorded its hottest day since 1947, and more than half the country was placed under the highest heat alert. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was forced to announce an emergency mobilization of the healthcare system.

The hypocrisy was immediate and undeniable. Marine Tondelier, national secretary of France’s Green Party, publicly acknowledged a long-standing “taboo” on air conditioning, now calling it indispensable for schools and hospitals

This year, France even decided to ban drinking alcohol in public to counter the heat. Just one year ago, during the 2025 heatwave, these same politicians attacked AC as an environmentally misguided right-wing proposal while schools closed and children sat in dangerously overheated classrooms.

This is the Green agenda in practice: ban commonsense solutions, lecture the public, and reverse course only when it’s too late.

EUROPE’S HEAT WAVE EXPOSES FAILED GREEN POLICIES

A heatwave is gripping much of Europe, with temperatures nearing 40°C (100°F) across Italy, Spain, and France.

The EU has set a legally binding target to cut emissions 55 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, but as of 2024, it has come up short on that goal, leaving a significant gap with just a few years to go.

Once again, Europe is unprepared. More Europeans die from heat each year than Americans die from gun violence, and a big difference is affordable energy for air conditioning, something Green energy policy has put increasingly out of reach.

On top of that, policies like the CSDDD and CSRD make it hard for energy companies to operate in Europe. With energy prices on the rise, the EU has succumbed to another deadly heatwave.

Germany’s household electricity prices are now the fifth highest in the world, driven by a rapid exit from nuclear and coal without sufficient alternatives, a cost environment so damaging that even Playmobil, one of Germany’s most iconic manufacturers, announced this week it is shutting down its last production facility in Bavaria and moving operations abroad.

Decades of overregulation have kept electricity expensive and energy supply unreliable. With CSDDD and CSRD, Europe is trying to export this same failed Green agenda. President Trump is standing in their way, and can protect Americans from Brussels’ overreach once and for all with a targeted executive order.

2. GERMAN ESTABLISHMENT MOVES THE GOALPOSTS

With the AfD polling at 42% in Saxony-Anhalt and poised to win an outright majority in September’s state election, Germany’s ruling parties aren’t changing their message. They’re changing the rules.

State interior ministers are exploring ways to cut AfD-led governments off from federal intelligence databases and interstate security cooperation. The stated justification is “protecting the constitution.” But the real justification is harder to miss: if an AfD interior minister gained access to these files, it would reveal just how politically motivated the years-long surveillance campaign against the party truly was.

The establishment may be severely miscalculating. The latest national polling puts AfD at 29% nationwide, ahead of the centrist CDU at 22%. Every rule change designed to wall off the opposition appears to be making it stronger.

1. EU REGULATION BACKFIRES, EMISSIONS RISE

For all of Brussels’ climate ambition, the EU actually saw its greenhouse gas emissions rise in 2025. The bloc released 3.34 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, an increase from 2024, according to preliminary Eurostat data. After years of aggressive Green Deal policymaking, the EU’s emissions-cutting momentum has visibly stalled.

The EU has set a legally binding target to cut emissions 55 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, but as of 2024, it has come up short on that goal, leaving a significant gap with just a few years to go.

Transport emissions remain essentially stagnant, and heating emissions actually rose in 2025. These sectors that touch everyday life, including how people get around and heat their homes, are not improving. The European Commission is now floating a bloc-wide electrification target to address the gap, which is effectively an admission that years of overregulation haven’t done the job.

The EU has staked enormous political capital and imposed massive costs on businesses on its radical climate agenda. The 2025 numbers are an uncomfortable reminder that their far-left climate policies do not work. And while Europe grapples with its own failures, Brussels is actively pushing to export these egregious regulations, the CSRD, CSDDD, and the rest of the EU’s sprawling ESG rulebook, onto American companies. Why should we allow U.S. businesses to comply with legislative burdens designed by regulators who can’t even come close to hitting their own targets?

2. BRUSSELS IS USING “TRANSPARENCY” RULES AS A POLITICAL WEAPON

The EU’s Transparency Register just suspended MCC Brussels, one of the most prominent conservative think tanks in Europe.

The suspension limits MCC’s access to EU institutions, including meetings with Commission officials and European Parliament accreditation. MCC Brussels is appealing the decision, arguing plainly that bureaucrats are using an administrative technicality to silence a dissenting voice.

The technical pretext is a rule against organizations registering multiple times across different national branches. But MCC Brussels spent over a year cooperating fully with the investigation, answered every request made of them, and was suspended anyway.

Executive Director Frank Furedi says this fits a four-year pattern of targeting, including Brussels mayors attempting to shut down the National Conservatism Conference in 2024, a ban later thrown out by Belgian courts. A system designed to “guarantee openness” is being turned into a tool for ideological gatekeeping, and the EU isn’t trying very hard to hide it.

HOW EU IS SABOTAGING ITS OWN TRADE DEAL

Last month, President Trump set a bold goal to complete a trade framework with the EU by July 4. Recent actions from Brussels, however, threaten to thwart the potential agreement ahead of America’s 250th birthday.

The EU’s regulatory framework which has bled US companies dry for years is poised to further inflame the transatlantic relationship with a fine against Google for hundreds of millions that is expected to be announced in the coming days, and a recently-publicized DMA probe into Apple’s cloud services.

American firms aren’t the only ones bearing the costs of Brussels’ predatory agenda though. Europeans have begun to feel the impact of the DMA too through increased prices, heightened security vulnerabilities, and missing out on new features like Siri AI.

President Trump has not stopped fighting against what he’s aptly characterized as “overseas extortion,” and as the trade negotiations continue, no one is more prepared to ensure concessions are extracted from the EU on this issue during talks.

If, however, the EU and the US fail to reach an agreement next month to succeed the 2025 Turnberry Truce, Europe will only have itself to blame for undermining any chance at a deal with a regulatory crusade it simply refuses to abandon.

1. MOWERS: TIME FOR BRUSSELS TO WAKE UP

EU-US Forum Board Member Matt Mowers made the case at an MCC Brussels America at 250 event on Wednesday that we need to stop the EU regulatory overreach from coming to America.

At the center of the fight: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). Under these policies, larger U.S. companies that operate in EU revenue are legally subject to Brussels’ supply chain and environmental mandates, regardless of whether they have a single office on European soil.

Mowers put it bluntly at the event: “They want to tell American companies where they can get their supply chain from. They want to tell American companies what kind of environmental standards they have to go for. With all due respect, looking at the outcome of output from countries like Germany and their manufacturing sector, America cannot allow Brussels to overregulate its businesses the way that, unfortunately, it’s often overregulated its own, and so America is going to stand up to those issues.”

This follows closely after China’s recent move to reject the EU’s ESG demands. Beijing issued State Council Decrees 834 and 835 with immediate effect in April 2026, explicitly shielding Chinese companies from foreign extraterritorial compliance demands, a direct counter to CSRD and CSDDD overreach. Meanwhile, the Trump White House has already issued a presidential memorandum directing agencies to defend American companies from overseas regulatory extortion.

Mowers argued in a recent op-ed that President Trump can continue protecting American companies by issuing a targeted executive order.

2. BRUSSELS’ FORCES AMERICAN BUSINESSES TO REPORT ON THEIR COWS

Brussels has a new obsession: methane from dairy cows. The EU’s CSRD requires large companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions in granular detail, including livestock methane across entire supply chains. And it’s not just a European problem. Non-EU companies with €450M+ in EU turnover face their own CSRD compliance deadline in 2029, meaning American dairy and food companies could soon be forced to file elaborate cow-emission reports to satisfy European regulators.

The result is a compliance nightmare exported from Europe to the American heartland, without a single vote in Congress. U.S. dairy producers could find themselves restructuring farm-level operations to satisfy EU bureaucrats, tracking methane that is notoriously difficult to measure in the first place, and bearing real costs for rules that don’t even promise real results. This is European regulatory theater, and it’s coming for American businesses, too.

THE DMA TAKING ITS TOLL ON EUROPEAN CONSUMERS IT PROMISED TO PROTECT

For years, critics of the EU’s Digital Markets Act warned that Brussels’ regulatory overreach would ultimately hurt the very consumers it claimed to protect. This week, in an unfortunate development for European users, those warnings came to fruition.

Just days ago, the EU ordered Meta to open WhatsApp’s API to rival AI chatbot free of charge, threatening a fine of up to 10% of global turnover if it refused – a decision the American company characterized as “regulatory overreach subsidized by the many European companies that pay.” Adding to this, Apple recently announced that its overhauled, AI-powered assistant known as Siri will be unavailable to iPhone and iPad users across the EU when it arrives later this year. This follows the Commission’s rejection of both Apple’s proposed compliance plan and its request for an 18-month phased rollout. Moreover, the company said it has no timeline for bringing the feature to European users, suggesting the burdensome nature of the DMA’s regulations for which there is often not a quick fix.

Although this may be one of the first publicly-documented consequences of the DMA for European consumers, they have long been silently paying the price, absorbing price hikes exclusive to Europe stemming from higher compliance costs on American companies.

And while Europeans users have only recently had to to grips with the negative consequences of the DMA, the ramifications have been all too painfully familiar for American firms operating there. Brussels has handed down penalties of more than $7 billion to American companies under its digital regulatory framework in just the past two years. Taking into account the $1 billion in annual compliance fees spent between U.S. companies, the total costs since 2024 exceed $9 billion.

President Trump has repeatedly made clear that the era of one-sided regulatory targeting of American companies is over. American companies shouldn’t have to choose between complying with these onerous regulations and delivering the best products to their users. Luckily, President Trump is making sure they don’t have to.

1. EUROPE IS BAKING AND BRUSSELS’ RED TAPE IS TO BLAME

European children are falling asleep at their desks from heat exhaustion. A second-grade teacher in Paris watched two students pass out mid-afternoon during a weeklong heat wave with no air-conditioning and temperatures climbing above 86°F inside a 19th century school building. An Italian education union reports only 6% of Italian schools have air-conditioning. French teachers’ unions surveyed schools and found temperatures exceeded 82°F in 90% of middle and high schools.

This is not a weather problem; it’s a regulatory failure. The EU’s ridiculous energy policies drive up energy costs so high that cooling buildings becomes economically untenable. The results are deadly: in 2024 alone, an estimated 62,775 Europeans died from heat-related causes. To put that in perspective, more Europeans die from summer heat than Americans die from gun violence each year. Brussels has made a policy choice, and European citizens are paying with their lives.

And Brussels isn’t content to let this failed Green experiment stay within its own borders. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are two more regulatory weapons Europe is now trying to export onto American businesses in the name of the environment. These sweeping mandates would force U.S. companies doing business in Europe to comply with the same green bureaucracy that has left European schoolchildren sweltering in century-old buildings with no AC.

President Trump has led the charge to call this what it is: foreign regulatory overreach that puts American jobs, American competitiveness, and American energy freedom on the altar of Brussels’ failed climate agenda. We already know where that road leads…

2. THE LEFT COMES FOR CONSERVATIVE STRONGHOLD

Hungary’s new “centrist” government is moving to rewrite the constitution to remove Hungary’s president, Tamás Sulyok. Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced the move after Sulyok refused to resign, calling the push constitutionally baseless. Sulyok has formally appealed to the Venice Commission, warning that the effort could destabilize Hungary’s institutions.

Magyar’s government has also proposed retroactive term limits designed to prevent conservative Viktor Orbán from ever returning to power. A former Hungarian justice minister compared the tactics to 1948 communist-era purges, when President Zoltán Tildy was coerced from office as authoritarians consolidated control.

Hungary was one of the last firebreaks in the EU, and it is now under siege from within.

EU DRAFT MEASURES THREATEN TO TURN EU SMARTPHONES INTO A SECURITY LIABILITY

Brussels has spent years insisting its digital regulatory framework exists to protect consumers. Yet, a new set of draft measures under the EU’s Digital Markets Act is set to directly undercut that goal, stripping away core security protections for EU smartphone users in what some experts have called a “large-scale security and privacy experiment.”

The draft measures are set to dismantle foundational security safeguards that have protected smartphone users for years. These include allowing multiple third-party voice assistants to run simultaneously, meaning multiple apps could listen in on users at the same time, and mandating features that allow apps to render content directly over another.

Perhaps most notable, however, is the proposed dismantling of sandbox, which is a security system that walls apps off from one another so that a single compromised app cannot take over the entire device. Unfortunately for European users, bad actors have already exploited weaknesses in these exact areas to harvest banking credentials, personal data, and other personal information, and these changes will only make it easier for criminals to succeed.

More concerning still is the position this puts American companies in. The new DMA draft measures would directly contradict regulations the EU has already imposed, requiring US tech platforms to reduce vulnerabilities and security risks in their systems, which is precisely the type of vulnerabilities these measures would create. US companies in Europe now find themselves in an impossible position: a kind of double jeopardy where the EU will have the grounds to issue fines regardless of which set of rules American companies follow.

Just as President Trump would never open American users up to such unnecessary security risks, so too will he not allow US companies to be fined billions for being put in an unwinnable situation either. Trump has consistently pushed back against Brussels’ unfair treatment of American companies, and stands ready to do so again if the EU if Brussels presses ahead with these measures.

1. BRUSSELS IS TARGETING AMERICAN COMPANIES, TRUMP CAN STOP THEM

EU-US Forum Board Member Matt Mowers has a new op-ed in the Washington Examiner this week, making the case that President Trump can explicitly further protect American companies from EU overregulation by signing a targeted executive order.

Mowers argues that sweeping directives from Brussels, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), are a form of regulatory imperialism forcing burdensome supply chain audits and ESG compliance on global companies, threatening American businesses and global economic growth.

President Trump and his administration have already done serious work to push back and save American businesses, but more can be done. Mowers says the next move could be an Executive Order blocking the extraterritorial reach of these rogue regulations on American soil. President Trump has always put American workers and businesses first. This is the moment to make it official and ensure that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels never get to dictate how American companies operate.

Mowers writes, “Trump has the unique authority and the necessary leverage to shatter this trap. By signing a targeted executive order, the president can explicitly protect American companies by declaring that they do not have to comply with the extraterritorial demands of foreign directives.”

2. BARDELLA LEADS: THE FRENCH RIGHT MUST SEIZE THE MOMENT

The French political earthquake that the establishment feared is now showing up in the polls. According to a new Odoxa-Mascaret survey for Public Sénat, National Rally president Jordan Bardella is projected to win both rounds of France’s 2027 presidential election. Bardella commands a dominant 32% in the first round, nearly double the support of his nearest rival, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe at 17%. In a head-to-head second round, Bardella defeats Philippe 52 to 48.

Making matters worse for the Macronist establishment: Philippe’s support has fallen four points since March, and far-left LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is now breathing down his neck at 16%, threatening to knock the centrist out of the second round entirely. Macron’s political coalition is bleeding out, allowing an opening for the RN.

The French right must seize this moment. Macron will be term-limited out by 2027, the establishment is fracturing, and the voters are speaking clearly. A Bardella victory would mark a seismic shift not just for France, but for the trajectory of European politics writ large. The only question is whether the National Rally capitalizes now or lets the opportunity slip away through political miscalculation.

BRUSSELS’ “TECH SOVEREIGNTY PACKAGE” THREATENS TO UPEND THE TURNBERRY TRUCE

When US and EU negotiators reached the Turnberry Truce last summer, the hope in Washington was that the deal would mark a turning point in the transatlantic trade relationship, which for years has been strained by ongoing friction over the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA). Yet, with the EU’s impending “tech sovereignty package” expected next week, Brussels is poised to jeopardize the truce and throw the broader trade relationship back into turmoil.

The damage already inflicted by the DMA and DSA cannot be overstated. American firms spend up to a collective $50 billion annually to comply with the DMA and DSA, assuming they allocate an estimated 2% of their global revenue – a shocking figure that doesn’t even account for the multi-billion-dollar fines Brussels has handed down under the same framework. Brussels hasn’t just stopped there, however. The EU is now preparing to issue the largest fine in the DMA’s history to Google for allegedly violating the regulation.

Brussels’ soon-to-be-announced “tech sovereignty package” effectively doubles down on the same logic guiding the EU’s digital regulatory framework. The legislation would install “Buy European” procurement mandates, shield European cloud providers and chipmakers from US competition, and embed new non-tariff barriers — effectively codifying discrimination against U.S. firms into the EU’s procurement and industrial strategy. This approach directly contradicts the Turnberry Truce’s core promise to eliminate precisely these kinds of obstacles.

As American companies contend with these regulations overseas, however, they maintain a key ally across the pond in President Trump, who has been a staunch critic of Brussels’ predatory regulations and has consistently defended US innovators from being taken advantage of. And luckily for the President, the US retains additional leverage. If the USTR’s Section 301 investigation into EU digital service taxes determines them to be discriminatory, for example, the U.S. Trade Representative will have the authority to apply proportional trade restrictions on Brussels.

The Turnberry Truce offered both sides an opportunity to stabilize the relationship, but if the EU insists on pressing forward with its “Tech Sovereignty” agenda, responsibility for the truce’s collapse will rest squarely with Brussels, not the US.

1. GERMAN DISAPPROVAL FUELS CONSERVATIVE SURGE

A new INSA poll reported by Die Welt reveals the scale of Germany’s political crisis, and the establishment has no answers.

84 percent of Germans say they feel “great or very great” concern about the state of affairs in their country. A further 64% say they cannot see any combination of parties capable of turning things around.

That anxiety is sending Germans to the one party the establishment refuses to work with. The AfD now sits at 29%, making it the most popular party in Germany. The “centre-right” CDU trails at 22%, following a horrendous first year from Chancellor Merz.

This follows polling showing 78% of Germans believe Chancellor Merz has failed to solve the migration crisis. The establishment keeps making the same moves over and over, continuing to make matters worse in Germany. Germans have lost their confidence in their leadership, and it is pushing more and more people to the AfD.

2. BRUSSELS WHITEWASHES THE DMA’S FAILURES

The European Commission recently released its review of its Digital Markets Act (DMA), claiming the regulation has had a “positive impact” and has helped establish fairer markets and greater choice for users and businesses. But as one recent analysis from AEI points out, this flattering self-assessment is far from impartial.

As part of this review, American firms subject to the DMA’s stringent regulations were provided the opportunity to provide candid input on the framework; however, despite working through the proper legal and regulatory channels to flag the tangible consequences of the DMA’s obligations, Brussels elected not to include any of it. The Commission instead built out the report with testimony exclusively taken from stakeholders and organizations already predisposed to support the regulation.

The review also ignored a growing body of independent, peer-reviewed studies documenting how the DMA has stalled innovation and degraded services, along with others that undermine the core justifications for some of its most sweeping prohibitions. As the DMA faces criticism both abroad and domestically, Brussels appears to have artificially engineered the report to make it appear successful even as evidence of its failures continues to pile up.

As US companies struggle to remain compliant with the burdensome regulation, the ramifications of Brussels’ decision to conceal the DMA’s deficiencies have begun to spread beyond just the US companies designated as gatekeepers. European consumers, for one, have increasingly had to absorb price hikes resulting from EU taxes being passed onto them. Unfortunately for them, the Commission’s doctored self-review does nothing to address that reality since an acknowledgement of these deficiencies would threaten the regulatory framework itself and the vast financial and bureaucratic resources Brussels has put into it.

The Commission may be hoping that a favorable self-review buys it time before the next round of transatlantic negotiations, but the Trump Administration has already shown its willingness to fight on behalf of American innovators abroad, especially those being taken advantage of. The Commission should not expect this support to waiver and, given that, must consider recalibrating their approach. If Brussels continues to shut gatekeeper voices out of its own review process while simultaneously demanding their compliance, it can expect a more formidable response – be it through tariffs, diplomatic leverage, or other means.

THE ART OF HONORING THE DEAL

The US and EU have finally reached a trade deal.

Following President Trump’s May 1st announcement of a 25% tariff on EU passenger cars and light trucks, the EU finally reached a trade agreement with the US. The deal includes a 15% on most European exports, while duties are being lowered on U.S. industrial products, and expands preferential access on some American agricultural and seafood products.

After months of negotiations, the EU found itself at a standstill. The European Parliament decided to attempt to rewrite the deal by adding four new amendments, including sunset clauses and suspension mechanisms that were never part of the original agreement, but at long last, a deal has been reached.

U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder pointed out in his latest op-ed that when President Trump took office, the U.S. faced a $235 billion trade-in-goods deficit with the EU, the result of years of other presidents allowing Europe to play by its own rules. President Trump imposed tariffs, forced negotiations, and in July 2025, struck the Turnberry Agreement, a framework on reciprocal, fair, and balanced trade. The U.S. delivered immediately, while Brussels tried “to move the goalposts while the game is underway.”

Brussels wanted to force the hand of America, but President Trump set the terms. Brussels, eventually, had no choice but to accept them.

1. EUROPE’S AUTOMAKERS ARE BEGGING BRUSSELS TO STOP

Europe’s auto industry is in crisis. German automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, headed to Brussels to renew lobbying against the EU’s suffocating CO2 emissions rules that would crush their industry.

The numbers tell the story: Automakers warned that Germany’s auto sector alone could lose 225,000 total jobs by 2035 if more bureaucratic red tape is added and competitiveness does not improve. Under current proposals, fleet emissions from new cars in 2035 must be 90 percent lower than 2021 levels. At the same time, renewable fuels remain costly, unreliable, and scarce.

While Brussels forces European automakers into an EV-only future, Chinese competitors like BYD are flooding the market, car sales haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and European factories sit underused. As one supplier association leader put it: “We need to create the flexibility in the policy environment to react to what the market actually is able to accept.”

This is an industry being crushed by ideological mandates it cannot meet, and it is now shouting that from the rooftops in Brussels. The EU’s environmental extremism doesn’t just cost jobs; it hands market share to China on a silver platter.

2. FRENCH FARMERS ARE BACK

Farmers in France are taking their tractors to the streets again, and this time, they’re targeting the rising costs of fuel. Dozens of farmers descended on Lyon on Monday, blockading a key TotalEnergies refinery loading point and marching on the Rhône prefecture, demanding relief from soaring energy costs. The price of agricultural non-road diesel has skyrocketed from €0.90 to €1.70 per litre: a 70 percent increase in just four months.

Rhône’s Rural Coordination leader Bertrand Molinier said: “We are here to raise the voice of farmers who can no longer do so economically. We have had an increase in costs, but sales prices are not keeping up.”

France’s leadership has failed its farmers, refusing to deliver the structural changes the agricultural community is demanding. As the head of the region’s union said, farmers have reached their “limit” and want “structural changes, not small measures.” The people who feed France deserve better than a government that ignores them.

BRITAIN BACK TO BRUSSELS?

In another display of political surrender, the British government introduced legislation to formally strengthen ties between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The so-called “European Partnership Bill” is designed to implement EU agreements with Britain “now and in the future.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under fire after Labour suffered heavy losses in Scottish, Welsh, and local English elections last week and is responding to political failure not by listening to voters, but by rushing back into Brussels’ arms. His own government has already admitted that Britain must “align with EU regulations by default” in key industries.

His own government has already admitted that Britain must “align with EU regulations by default” in key industries.

Britain voted for Brexit to take back control. Now, Starmer is engineering regulatory alignment with the EU, locking British businesses and consumers into Brussels’ rule book, without membership, without a vote, and without a voice. Britain will be subject to EU laws without having any say in how they are made.

This is the EU’s reach made manifest. You don’t even have to be a member anymore. Brussels’ regulatory tentacles extend far beyond its borders, and the people of Britain will pay the price.

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.