Ribera lashes out at US ‘blackmail’ – Politico.eu

POLITICO’s must-read briefing on what’s driving the day in Brussels, by Gerardo Fortuna and Nicholas Vinocur. By GERARDO FORTUNA CIAO THERE. It’s Gerardo Fortuna again, sending warm Thanksgiving wishes to all our U.S. readers. No turkeys have been harmed in the making of this Playbook.  DRIVING THE DAY: TARIFF DIPLOMACY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Ever since the improvised trade truce hammered out at Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland in July, the European Union has been accused of not standing firm in defense of its vaunted regulatory autonomy. This week, frustration at being seen as pandering to the U.S. finally boiled over — and one of the Commission’s top officials has now made clear that Washington has misread the mood in Brussels. The last straw: On Monday U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told his counterparts in Brussels that Washington could ease its steel and aluminium tariffs if the EU reconsidered its digital rules. But that has provoked a blistering response from Teresa Ribera, Europe’s antitrust chief, in an interview with POLITICO. “It is blackmail,” the Commission executive vice president told my colleagues Francesca Micheletti and Jacob Parry on Wednesday. “[This] being their intention does not mean that we accept that kind
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