Pluralistic: The Post-American Internet (01 Jan 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

reticuleena Leena Simon (@[email protected])

@[email protected] Vielleicht ist Anti-Circumvention das bessere Suchwort. Ansonsten kannst du den Vortrag auch nachlesen. https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/01/39c3/ (Schnellfindehinweis: "So let me explain")

Pluralistic: The Post-American Internet (01 Jan 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

[𝐔𝐒 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐔 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞] …and may make an EU response harder… | dr Marcin Lukowski, CGSS

[𝐔𝐒 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐔 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞] …and may make an EU response harder than all previous sanctions discussions, even with QMV instead of unanimity Donald Trump has just announced that the US will apply 10% tariffs on goods from 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇫🇷 France, 🇳🇱 the Netherlands, 🇫🇮 Finland, and non-EU 🇬🇧 the UK and 🇳🇴 Norway starting 1 February, rising to 25% from 1 June. Or in simple terms: American consumers would pay 10–25% more for certain products “made in Europe”, the UK, and Norway. But leaving aside this oversimplification, the following matters. Unlike the 2025 US–EU tariff dispute, this time the measure would not target the EU as a whole, but selected countries only. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. On the contrary, from the US perspective, this approach makes sense. But first an important note: under US rules of origin, importers must indicate an individual country of origin, not “European Union”. This is for those who assume that EU membership somehow automatically shields targeted Member States. It does not. Any EU response in the form of 🛂 retaliatory tariffs 🛂 would have to be adopted at EU level, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. This is because only the EU has competence to impose import tariffs. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬) 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Especially if they have US boots on the ground and some unpleasant neighbours nearby. 🔴  Unlike sanctions (which require unanimity), tariffs are adopted by qualified majority voting: 55% of Member States representing 65% of the EU population. The already targeted countries represent ~26% of Member States and 45.5% of the EU population. 🔴  This means that at least 9 additional Member States would need to support potential EU tariffs targeting the US, and among them would almost certainly need to be Italy, Spain, Poland, or Romania to reach the population threshold. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐂𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. However, as usual, there is no legal act yet, so some questions arise: ❓Would Trump's social media post ever become binding law? We have already seen multiple announcements that never translated into enforceable measures. ❓If adopted, would the tariffs apply to goods exported from those countries, goods originating in those countries, or both? And other... But EU retaliatory tariffs are not the only possible response. There are many options on the table. Or maybe I should rather refer to cards in hand. ♥️♣️♦️♠️