Occasionally, the consequences of demagogue and mentally unstable genius Donald "Impeached Forever" Trump's bluster and threats on trade matters don't directly impact our farmers, manufacturers and consumers. Sometimes, they express themselves as a slap in Trump's face by our closest allies, who have grown sick and tired of Trump's buffoonish, lying threats from trade to NATO to the scrapped Iran nuclear deal.
Today, there's reporting that the UK has decided to work with Chinese telecom giant Huawei in developing a European 5G network, something that Trump has vigorously opposed. Led by his erstwhile friend, UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, other European countries are expected to follow suit and engage with Huawei over Trump's objections:
"Trump had ordered his European allies to impose a blanket ban on Huawei's 5G involvement.At the 70th anniversary celebration in London last December, several of our allies were videoed laughing at Trump, showing that they see him as a clown who's damaging our long-held and beneficial alliances. That shouldn't surprise anyone but his Red Cap Cult members, but his off-putting clownishness is giving our adversaries an edge that we may not soon recover from.
However, Johnson's decision provides cover for other European countries — many of whom are minded to allow Huawei to help build their own 5G networks — to defy Trump themselves. [snip]
Individual countries across the continent are likely to follow the UK's lead and allow Huawei a role in their future 5G networks, despite being on the end of intensive lobbying efforts from the Trump administration.
Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands are leaning toward allowing Huawei a role in future telecoms networks, while the French government confirmed in November that it was 'not following the position of the United States' and refused to exclude Huawei from bidding for its 5G network." (our emphasis)
(photo: Never ask him if you can pick his brain)
