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We Need to Stick Together! (media.piefed.ca)

submitted 4 days ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk

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[-] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 4 days ago

Europe is a vassal state of the US, as we're seeing with Venezuela now.

We even saw this with trade negotiations in 2025, where after Trump applied tariffs to the EU following the Big Bootycheeks Bill and the EU retaliated, that retaliation swiftly went away as Trump forced Europe to buy Americans' food, technology, cars, and energy, to invest in US businesses, to loosen the EU's policies towards good corporate governance and sustainable as it applies to US businesses doing trade in Europe, as well as an assortment of other actions.

So while you might believe that a United Europe can stand up to the US and China, you forget how much the EU relies on both of them. Yes, including China, which the EU would be smart to build ties with as the becomes more and more the 4th Reich.

If I want to purchase well made goods, I always look to Europe. The new watch band I got for Christmas came from a European maker (Watch-straps). The headphones I purchased last year came from Europe (Fairphone). The undershirts, underwear, and socks I bought last year all came from Europe (Dedicated).

Europe has some of the best policies in the world for fair trade and good economic production, sans socialism in China.

Just don't forget where the EU sits on the global stage. It's not on the same level as the US and China, two superpowers.

[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

China isn't socialist though, I'm sick of ~~both tankies and right wingers~~ many pretending that it is.

Edit: being less of a dick about differing opinions.

[-] edible_funk@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Seriously, they do capitalism better than the west.

[-] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago

China isn't socialist though

Just to be clear, we're distinguishing between socialism and communism, right?

Communism being the end goal of socialism, which is a stateless, moneyless, classless, borderless society, one that only exists only after the entire world also becomes communist and snuffs out capitalism from every country on the planet.

China has a socialist market economy. Just because it has a market economy doesn't mean that this doesn't make it socialist. The public sector still dominates, as 24 out of the 25 largest corporations are state owned. There are other examples of socialist characteristics that I'm too lazy to post here.

Also, I'm not a tankie. All states are evil, but China is far less imperialistic that the US and Russia.

[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I'm not a tankie

Fair enough, I was being a bit obtuse with this one. Apologies.

China is far less imperialistic that the US and Russia.

Agree. Of the 3 China (at the moment) is the least imperialistic.

Just to be clear, we're distinguishing between socialism and communism, right?

Nope. I mean what I said. The wealth inequality is massive, similar to the US. The work rights are pretty crap, similar to the US (maybe even worse, though I wouldn't want to say that authoritatively)

Having a capitalist market economy is kinda antithetical socialism, no? Well, at least what they currently have, with the excessive wealth people have been allowed to amass, on the backs of the working class who have shared in a much, much smaller fraction of the wealth they have generated.

They have a lot of state owned and run companies, many of which don't have the primary aim only to make a profit (love this), but this doesn't change the fact that the class system is in full swing there, and is permitted by the government.

Pressuring officials and rich people to be less austentatious isn't exactly taking away the power people have due to their excessive wealth.

It's been decades, I think they've let enough people get rich first (though I disagree that this was necessary - the letting people get excessively wealthy part, not the reform in general), it's about time they do SOMETHING to curb wealth inequality (they won't though, because this would cause an uproar from the wealthy, as is the case in other countries)

They don't have a true union movement, all unions must be part of the party. Strikes are done, but very rarely and in spite of the unions, and they are barely tolerated by the authorities. There is very little, if any, difference between how much workers there have a say in their workplace compared to other capitalist countries.

They don't have meaningful power over government policy. That's handed down from on-high from the party elite (yes, with some minor consultation). China is not democratic, and in my view socialism must have workers democracy, by definition, though perhaps some will disagree with this. (But to me saying the word socialism implies rule of the workers, and that is definitely not what is happening in China)

Hope that clears things up about my opinion, and thanks for not responding to my inflammatory comment with more of the same. Sorry for my candor on this one.

[-] ClamDrinker@lemmy.world 26 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I think calling it a vassal state is a bit hyperbolic. Large powers such as the US or China can exert massive political force on any country, even each other. Sometimes it's better to give up your lunch money than be forced to take out your card and empty your bank account. And because the US has traditionally been an ally of Europe, the two are well connected and thus have many contact points to be pressured in (Especially points that hurt, like defense). Points that the EU might want to keep quiet on until they can bear the pressure, especially since the US is currently led by a felon with the mind of a child that wages wars for tantrums.

The EU has kept it's direction, which has always been further ahead of the US in terms like voting rights, healthcare, and life satisfaction, but the US has now taken a stark turn diverging from that path. Sure there are politicians in the EU that like to be US bootlickers, but even those are not a particular fan of what Trump is doing. We do have Hungary, and some others, but those are far too outnumbered to be considered to be making a vassal state out of Europe.

Europe definitely has the capacity to be a super power, but indeed we can only do it together. And lets not forget that China and the US also depend on Europe for a lot. If you look at trade, we are effectively equals.

[-] Ethanol@pawb.social 17 points 3 days ago

Saying Europe is a US vassal state is a bit much lol. Europe is one of the biggest economic powers in the world together with the US and China. They all export and import a lot of wares between each other and thus depend on each other. The tariff deal the EU got with the US wasn't that great and the leader of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, got some backlash because of that but I guess her tactic was to just appease Trump so they will have more time to transition away from the US in some areas. On the other hand that deal reduced some very annoying tariffs on steel and car parts, so it was partially successful.

[-] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

transition away from the US

And transition to China 🙂

this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026

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