Donald Trump tweets trade threats, while Europe plans to get around them

US President Donald Trump sent out the following threatening trade tweet today:

The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2018

While Donald Trump is trying to portray this as a way towards world peace, Iran and Europe are not pleased:

7 August 2018

US President Donald Trump has issued a strong warning to anyone trading with Iran, following his re-imposition of sanctions on the country.

“Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States,” the president tweeted.

Some re-imposed sanctions took effect overnight and tougher ones relating to oil exports will begin in November.

Iran’s president said the measures were “psychological warfare” which aimed to “sow division among Iranians”. …

The European Union, which remains committed to the original agreement. has spoken out against the sanctions, vowing to protect firms doing “legitimate business”. …

What are the sanctions?

Mr Trump signed an executive order that brought sanctions back into place at 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT) on Tuesday. They target:

The purchase or acquisition of US banknotes by Iran’s government

Iran’s trade in gold and other precious metals

Graphite, aluminium, steel, coal and software used in industrial processes

Transactions related to the Iranian rial currency

Activities relating to Iran’s issuance of sovereign debt

Iran’s automotive sector

A second phase is planned to come back into effect on 5 November which will have implications for Iran’s energy and shipping sectors, petroleum trading and transactions by foreign financial institutions with the Central Bank of Iran. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45098031

Iran sees these sanctions as a way that the USA is trying to encourage revolt against the government there.

Before going further, notice that the USA is attempting to stop Iran from using US dollars as well as to trade in gold. This will further push Iran towards gold as well as towards currencies like the Euro. The fewer countries that use US dollars, the less of a world reserve currency the US dollar becomes. These Iranian sanctions and threats against those who wish to continue to trade with Iran will not benefit the US dollar–but will end up, internationally, helping Europe.

The Europeans think the Iran nuclear deal has actually worked. They consider that Donald Trump is basically an arrogant oaf that is destroying diplomacy on this and other fronts (like the Paris climate accords). The Europeans see the re-imposition of sanctions as a threat to regional stability that may encourage Iran to build nuclear weapons, which, in turn, would encourage Arab nations to get nuclear weapons. Furthermore, Europe not only wants the economic benefits of trading with Iran, it is getting suspicious that this is one other way that Donald Trump is attempting to decrease Europe’s influence, including being another attempt to damage its economy.

Europe wants to defy Donald Trump on this sanctions matter:

7 August 2018

How the EU plans to get around US sanctions on Iran

The European Union’s top foreign affairs representative Federica Mogherini and three EU foreign ministers, Jeremy Hunt from the UK, Jean-Yves Le Drian from France and Heiko Maas from Germany, have jointly condemned American sanctions against Iran.

While the US has withdrawn from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal — which aims to ensure Iran’s peaceful use of nuclear energy, the EU, China, Russia and Iran continue to uphold the agreement. Now the EU wants to circumvent the current US sanctions, which will also punish European companies that do business with Iran.

Read more: Trump’s sanctions on Iran worry German business

The EU Commission considers the ‘secondary sanctions’ imposed by the US on European companies illegal. The Americans are seeking to ban European carmakers, banks and energy companies from doing business with Iran. If they violate the ban, their assets in the US may be seized. Even American companies dealing with European companies, which in turn are engaged in Iran, face penalties.

Blocking US sanctions

For this reason, the EU has adopted a so-called ‘blocking statute’ in order to ward off the effects of American sanctions. The updated legislation comes into force on August 7. “European companies should be protected,” said an EU official in Brussels. “But we aren’t dictating to companies what economic decisions they make. No company can be forced to invest in Iran.” …

In the current dispute over Iran, the US government at the end of July expressly refused to exempt European companies from secondary sanctions. US President Donald Trump likes confrontation and has waged a war of words with Iran’s leadership. …

The EU Commission is unable to quantify the amount of economic damage for companies that are subject to America’s secondary sanctions. But many companies and banks have already announced their intention to withdraw from Iran, especially ones that have corporate assets or real estate in America which the US government could get their hands on.

To follow or not

The blocking statute prohibits European companies from abiding by American sanctions. However, a company can always say that it is pulling out of Iran for business reasons and not because of US sanctions. A senior EU official made it clear in Brussels that it was not about punishing European companies twice, but is meant as a deterrent.

The EU is also sending a clear political message to the US that they will not just submit to American unilateralism, which is also why EU foreign policy chief Mogherini and the three European foreign ministers announced their commitment to a financing channel and further oil and gas exports from Iran.

The US administration’s goal is to completely shut Iran out of the global money market and to reduce its energy exports, its main source of foreign currency, to zero. https://www.dw.com/en/how-the-eu-plans-to-get-around-us-sanctions-on-iran/a-44981319

Donald Trump’s tweet and the European response are both part of a ‘trade war.’

As regular readers of this COGwriter Church of God news page are aware, I have long written that there would be trade disputes between the USA and Europe, and that this will ultimately not end well for the USA. We are now seeing more public trade disputes.

I have also long written that I believe that trade conflict could be the trigger for the start of WWIII between Europe and the USA/UK. The Bible shows that the USA/UK would lose (cf. Daniel 11:39).

Voice of America reported:

August 7, 2018

The United States has reimposed economic sanctions on Iran that were originally put in place to pressure the country to limit its nuclear program and later lifted under a 2015 international agreement. …

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a speech broadcast on state television, said the United States cannot be trusted because it withdrew from the international pact, whose other signatories still support it. He said Tehran has always believed in resolving disputes diplomatically.

Rouhani said that Trump’s call for direct negotiations with Iran were “only for domestic consumption in America … and to create chaos in Iran.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like Trump a long-time opponent of the accord, congratulated him on the new sanctions.

“This is an important moment for Israel, the U.S., the region and the entire world,” Netanyahu said. …

EU takes action

The European Union, which remains a supporter of the three-year-old nuclear pact with Iran, said it is taking counter-measures to blunt the impact of the sanctions Trump has reinstituted.

The EU said it is simultaneously implementing a “blocking statute” as the new sanctions take effect, stopping European companies from complying with the U.S. sanctions unless they have permission to do so. It also blocks the effect of any U.S. court actions in Europe related to the sanctions.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and the French, German and British foreign ministers said they deeply regretted Trump’s action.

They called the international agreement “a key element of the global nuclear nonproliferation architecture, crucial for the security of Europe, the region and the entire world.”

In his statement, Trump said the United States “is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions, and we will work closely with nations conducting business with Iran to ensure complete compliance. Individuals or entities that fail to wind down activities with Iran risk severe consequences.”

The two other signatories to the 2015 pact — Russia and China — also continue to support it. https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-sanctions-trump/4516800.html

This will not go as well for the USA as its President Trump hopes. I have been warning since before he became president that there would be “unintended consequences” of his policies.

Notice statements from my book, Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse:

Has or will Donald Trump affect Europe?

Yes.

He will do so in many ways, including several that few consider.

The Washington Post reported in late 2016 that Donald Trump admired Richard Nixon. It also reported:

Donald Trump appears to have embraced, with gusto, Richard Nixon’s “Madman Theory” of foreign policy. He thinks he can use his reputation for unpredictability and lack of respect for long-standing international norms to unnerve and then intimidate America’s adversaries into making concessions that they would not otherwise make. (Hohmann J, Deppisch B. The Daily 202: Donald Trump embraces the risky ‘Madman Theory’ on foreign policy. Washington Post, December 20, 2016)

Donald Trump’s foreign policy statements have unsettled many—in the U.S.A. as well as foreign nations. He seems like he will more unpredictable than Richard Nixon.

There is also something referred to as the “law of unintended consequences.” There are consequences for the U.S.A., Europe, and elsewhere that have and will occur because of Donald Trump’s statements and actions. (Thiel B. Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse. Nazarene Books, 2017)

We are starting to see “fallout” (unintended consequences) of Donald Trump’s policies from Europe. Europe’s relationship will NOT continue in the future with the USA as it has been–that is one reason that Europe is developing its own military (see also With PESCO, EU entering a ‘New Era’: An era that will NOT end well for the USA, Canada, or the UK).

While the Europeans do not want to overly rile up Donald Trump, they are more and more of the opinion that he does not like them (and his recent statement about the EU being a foe basically confirms that–see Donald Trump considers European Union, Russia, and China to be foes; Germans fear Donald Trump more than Vladimir Putin). He is the one whose policies have them scrambling to try to figure out what to do next. “Self-preservation” can be a powerful motivator.

Despite what Donald Trump thinks, Europe, not the USA, is prophesied to dominate trade for a time later this century (cf. Revelation 18; watch also our BNP video: Trade Disputes: CCOG Warnings Are Coming to Pass).

Donald Trump’s positions are getting the EU to look at basically being able to write international trade rules, such as those of the World Trade Organization, that Donald Trump disparages (see ‘Europe needs to do 2 things to win the trade war,’ Donald Trump’s World Trade Organization views are leading to the rise of the Babylonian Beast and/or watch Trade Disputes: CCOG Warnings Are Coming to Pass).

Donald Trump’s actions will be a factor in the rise of the European King of the North Beast power. This will not end well for the USA (Daniel 11:39; Habakkuk 2:6-8).

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Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition.