If by pissing off you mean "making foreign entities follow European regulations", then, yes. But also, that's exactly what US, China, and Russia do too.
Laws are negotiable between sovereign states representing the business interests of their nations. The EU, not being a nation itself, may not get that part and may have been feeling a little too invincible as a bloc of nations, but they have still basically pissed off most of their larger trading partners and it doesn’t stop there. Qatar is threatening to stop selling LNG over some corporate sustainability directives the EU passed in 2024, since the potential fines amount to 5% of their state energy corporation’s global revenue[1].
Personally I like the way Qatari’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi put it[2]:
> “If the case is that I lose 5% of my generated revenue by going to Europe, I will not go to Europe," Al-Kaabi reportedly said in reference to the associated penalties back in December 2024. "I’m not bluffing.”
Now you might be thinking, well who cares? It’s Qatar! Well Qatar also supplies about 12 to 14% of Europe’s LNG imports. Europe could get that gas from elsewhere, but elsewhere kinda includes either America or Russia.
We're not dependent on their energy. One example: we get 10-12% of our LNG from Qatar.
No one power controls all tech or markets. There are American and Chinese tech companies who are dependent on European tech companies (ASML being one of the better known examples).
The whole point of globalization is that we're all interdependent on each other.
All that being said: Europe has a ton of work to do. The spirit of your comment isn't entirely off the mark.
Russia is still an energy provider to Europe. Do we provide any security guarantees to Qatar or can protect the shipping lanes? We can not. It is controlled by the US, which is also a major supplier.
For every political squeeze EU can do, the US can squeeze 10x as hard.
ASML also has quite a lot of US suppliers. We are all tech dependent on each other, but China is working hard to fix that and the US also.
I have read that narrative before, in fact it was just a few days ago when Trump lied that he will be forced to take Greenland because Denmark and Norway is pissing him off by withholding the strategic location of Greenland from him.
Same same.
Maybe we need to be more confrontational to assert our own borders and independence and stop trying to please autocrats and wannabe autocrats?
The EU protects its own markets, just like the other global power. You ascribe one-sided emotional intent to something that is a cut and dry centuries old geopolitical practise and is done by every single of the mentioned blocks (and in fact: by literally every country on earth). The EU has the right to regulate what happens within its borders in accordance to international law. Just because the EU is smaller, doesn't mean it has no right to play the same game.
Unless of course it is your world view that the perceived weaker side has to eat it all up and show gratitude afterwards. On a human scale that is like telling the bullied kid to shut up and accept the beatings, not widely considered an ethically sound position.
Trump or no Trump, the US's ability to be Europe's security shield had to come to an end one day or another. Trump is more a symptom than a cause: the US has weakened and others have strengthened. As many are eager to point out, the game is already up. Pretending like there is a future here is pointless. America had best leave internal European civil wars like Russia-Ukraine to the locals and retreat to whatever borders she can defend.
NATO died when Europe decided to outsource defense wholesale to the US so that she could fund her retiree class, proudly advertising how she redistributes as much as possible to the aged while relying on America to defend her borders. The US could not bear that weight and now Europe must carry it on her own. Doubtless the French will riot in the streets as the retirement age rises so that France may sustain herself rather than live on someone else's dime. But if Europe wishes to be defended, then she must defend herself.
sadly you are not wrong. Or at least partially not wrong.
I wouldn't say pissing off, but more like 'not in a position for negotiations'. As we speak, EU is constantly slowing down their own companies while being fully dependant on US technology software and AI, being fully dependant on China's sources, chemicals, car-parts and batteries and importing (AFAIK still) Russian gas (which does not prevent german green activists from protesting against Polish gas-port). So welcome mr Trump, mr Xinping and mr Putin, which parts of our 'sovereign' conglomerate do you want to take?
Actually the Green deal is an attempt at that. Masked as a way to save the planet, its goal is to get rid of deep dependencies like gas oil etc, which we in Europe don't have sufficiently.
The main issue is the way the transition is happening, because I see China doing exactly what we should be doing: build coal, nuclear, etc. while you build tons of solar panels or windfarms.
The self inflicting pain forced by radical ideas is what is killing Europe. We have lost the pragmatism that made Europe move at a crazy speed after WW2.
kevin061|1 month ago
Don't break the law. It's simple.
SllX|1 month ago
Personally I like the way Qatari’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi put it[2]:
> “If the case is that I lose 5% of my generated revenue by going to Europe, I will not go to Europe," Al-Kaabi reportedly said in reference to the associated penalties back in December 2024. "I’m not bluffing.”
Now you might be thinking, well who cares? It’s Qatar! Well Qatar also supplies about 12 to 14% of Europe’s LNG imports. Europe could get that gas from elsewhere, but elsewhere kinda includes either America or Russia.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/qatars-energy-minist...
[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2025/08/06/europe-is...
davedx|1 month ago
No one power controls all tech or markets. There are American and Chinese tech companies who are dependent on European tech companies (ASML being one of the better known examples).
The whole point of globalization is that we're all interdependent on each other.
All that being said: Europe has a ton of work to do. The spirit of your comment isn't entirely off the mark.
rapsey|1 month ago
For every political squeeze EU can do, the US can squeeze 10x as hard.
ASML also has quite a lot of US suppliers. We are all tech dependent on each other, but China is working hard to fix that and the US also.
csomar|1 month ago
Qatar is a pure American vassal state.
cinntaile|1 month ago
unknown|1 month ago
[deleted]
Y-bar|1 month ago
I have read that narrative before, in fact it was just a few days ago when Trump lied that he will be forced to take Greenland because Denmark and Norway is pissing him off by withholding the strategic location of Greenland from him.
Same same.
Maybe we need to be more confrontational to assert our own borders and independence and stop trying to please autocrats and wannabe autocrats?
atoav|1 month ago
Unless of course it is your world view that the perceived weaker side has to eat it all up and show gratitude afterwards. On a human scale that is like telling the bullied kid to shut up and accept the beatings, not widely considered an ethically sound position.
lm28469|1 month ago
What's your point?
rapsey|1 month ago
4gotunameagain|1 month ago
renewiltord|1 month ago
NATO died when Europe decided to outsource defense wholesale to the US so that she could fund her retiree class, proudly advertising how she redistributes as much as possible to the aged while relying on America to defend her borders. The US could not bear that weight and now Europe must carry it on her own. Doubtless the French will riot in the streets as the retirement age rises so that France may sustain herself rather than live on someone else's dime. But if Europe wishes to be defended, then she must defend herself.
God helps those who help themselves.
p0w3n3d|1 month ago
I wouldn't say pissing off, but more like 'not in a position for negotiations'. As we speak, EU is constantly slowing down their own companies while being fully dependant on US technology software and AI, being fully dependant on China's sources, chemicals, car-parts and batteries and importing (AFAIK still) Russian gas (which does not prevent german green activists from protesting against Polish gas-port). So welcome mr Trump, mr Xinping and mr Putin, which parts of our 'sovereign' conglomerate do you want to take?
lm28469|1 month ago
[deleted]
AndyMcConachie|1 month ago
lm28469|1 month ago
Or compared to Supreme leader putin and his very successful strategic 3 days military operation?
mk89|1 month ago
The main issue is the way the transition is happening, because I see China doing exactly what we should be doing: build coal, nuclear, etc. while you build tons of solar panels or windfarms.
The self inflicting pain forced by radical ideas is what is killing Europe. We have lost the pragmatism that made Europe move at a crazy speed after WW2.