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**OCTOBER 23, 2023**

On the Prospect website

* Ryan Cooper: House Republicans and the constitutional quagmire

* Harold Meyerson: It all goes back to Nixon

* Maureen Tkacik: The moral authority of Marc Rowan

Kuttner on TAP

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**** The U.S. and Europe in a Time of Crisis

Military stresses are compounded by economic divisions.

The Biden administration has been working hard to keep the European
Union and its major constituent nations in support of America's basic
policies on Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine. This is no mean feat, since
many Europeans tend to be more war-weary and averse to open conflict
with Russia, and less clearly on the side of Israel.

On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen doubled
down on her support both for Ukraine and for Israel
,
in a speech to the youth organization of the CDU, the German
center-right party from whence von der Leyen came. This came after more
than 800 EU staff took the unusual step of writing the Commission
president to protest what they criticized as her pro-Israel tilt.

Meanwhile, the close and necessary U.S.-EU bond is fraying over economic
issues. At the leadership level, both Biden and von der Leyen have
expressed support for a Green Steel Deal, in which cleaner steel and
aluminum from friendly countries (i.e., not China) would get reciprocal
tariff-free treatment. October 20 was supposed to be the deadline for
finalizing the deal.

But press accounts on the eve of that deadline suggested that the deal
would not be made

and that the U.S. and the EU were on the verge of a tariff war in steel.
Though October 20 came and went, negotiations continue.

The culprits appear to be senior officials of the European
Commission's trade directorate, some of whom seem to think that the
U.S. is more a menace than China, and are doing their best to sabotage
the deal with obscure technical objections, despite the support of the
EU's political leadership for getting the deal done. In addition, the
Europeans are demanding some kind of offset to the U.S. subsidies in the
Inflation Reduction Act for U.S.-made electric vehicles, and that demand
is souring other aspects of the negotiations.

Meanwhile, pressure continues from the U.S. tech industry for the Biden
administration to treat the EU's exemplary pro-privacy and
pro-competition rules for digital "gateway" platforms as discriminatory
trade practices on the ground that all of the abusive platform
monopolies happen to be American. My sources say that the White House
and U.S. trade representative are refusing to be cowed.

Happily, there is also counterpressure. Late last week, a coalition of
consumer and tech reform groups sent Biden a joint letter

urging him to support the EU regs.

Given the fraught military and geopolitical challenges, it's important
for the U.S. and the EU to stay together. The last thing that either
side needs is a rupture over economic issues.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

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[link removed]

Republicans Are Breaking America's Ancient Constitution

Parliaments have mechanisms for resolving the impasse in the House of
Representatives. The U.S. does not. BY RYAN COOPER

The Roots of Today's Republicans

It all goes back to Nixon. BY HAROLD MEYERSON

The Moral Authority of Marc Rowan

The private equity billionaire is leading a boycott of an Ivy League
oligarch factory over a Palestinian literary festival it held last
month. BY MAUREEN TKACIK

 

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