Trump's tariff triumph could sound much-needed death knell for European Union

For hardline Brexiteers like myself, the so-called Trump Tariff Tactic (the new Treble T!) doesn’t mean a crippling of the UK’s under strain economy.

Put bluntly, the Treble T hopefully will come to represent the final nail in the coffin of the bureaucratic beast known as the European Union.

In Northern Ireland, we still face the consequences of the Remain camp from 2016 failing to recognise the democratic wish of the UK electorate by dragging its heels at every given opportunity in refusing to fully implement Brexit.

What part of ‘Leave’ does the Remain lobby not understand? Remainers in this part of the UK prefer to hide behind the politically pathetic excuse that Northern Ireland as a region voted ‘Remain.’ It seems many in the Remain camp only see themselves part of the UK when it suits them.

Us Brexiteers want to see a reforming of the old European Economic Community (EEC) which operated successfully both politically and financially before the Europhiles of mainland Europe embarked on their United States of Europe white elephant.

What has emerged is a bureaucratic beast now so financially cumbersome and politically clumsy that it makes the post Great War disastrous League of Nations look like a credible solution to global peace.

Last year’s European elections across many existing member states have seen a sudden shift to the Right as voters in those nations realise maintaining their national sovereignty and political dignity lies in radically loosening ties with Brussels and Strasbourg.

The main reason Brexit has become such a burden since the result of the 2016 UK referendum is that the Europhiles in the EU want to make an example out of the UK to prevent Eurosceptic lobbies in other member states not just gaining momentum, but also holding referenda which could result in a mass exodus of states from the ailing EU.

And, of course, the EU’s stick to beat the UK has been using Northern Ireland - the only part of the UK which has a land border with an EU member state, namely Southern Ireland.

The Remain camp in Northern Ireland, many of whom are hell bent on campaigning for the current Labour Government at Westminster to hold another referendum on rejoining the EU, need to waken up and smell the scent of the Right-wing political coffee coming from Washington’s Oval Office - the EU will soon become an economically busted flush under a Trump administration.

While the woke community is pouring cold water on President Trump’s utterances on Greenland and Gaza, it seems to have conveniently forgotten about the 46th President’s whistle-stop tour of Ireland (anyone remember Joe Biden’s election tour of Northern and Southern Ireland) during which billions of dollars of investment were promised for the island.

Given Biden’s rousing speeches, you’d almost think if he was re-elected, he’d want to buy Ireland north and south and turn it into another American state. But the 47th President, Trump, is a more politically and economically astute leader than Biden.

Hopefully, Trump will use his so-called Treble T policy as an economic coup de grace to the EU, paving the way for a unique Trans Atlantic Trade Treaty between the UK and the USA - but it will require all of the UK to be clearly distant from the EU.

The half in, half out current arrangement which the Protocol and Windsor Framework have created must be confined to the dustbin of history along with the hated Irish Sea Border.

The Leinster House administration in Dublin will have to make up its mind - are you with us in the UK as part of the Trump deal, or do you want to sink like economic Titanic now that the EU is about to crash into the Trump iceberg?

However, the clock is ticking for all sides. Unlike the Putin presidency in Russia or even a Southern Irish presidency, the Trump Presidency will only last a four-year term.

The starting gun was fired last month with Donald Trump’s official inauguration as President. He has four years to cripple the EU permanently as well as implementing a Trans Atlantic Trade Treaty with the UK.

At the same time, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has about the same amount of time to get another referendum on rejoining the EU in front of the British electorate before Trump sinks the EU.

Starmer also faces the added problem of the rapid rise of the vehemently anti-EU Reform UK party under MP Nigel Farage, who has already had an electoral breakthrough at Westminster with the party as well as past successes with the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) and the Brexit Party.

It would signal the end of Starmer’s career as Prime Minister - like David Cameron in the wake of the 2016 referendum defeat for his Remain camp - if he implemented an EU rejoining referendum and the British electorate went with the rising Reform UK tide and voted ‘We Stay Out!’

If the Remain camp in Northern Ireland continues to drag its heels politically over the Irish Sea Border along with the noose which the EU still has around Northern Ireland, then perhaps the time has come for the Leave lobby within the UUP, DUP, TUV and Reform UK to form their own delegation and go directly to the White House and negotiate in person with President Trump.

Imagine a photo call in the White House with TUV MP Jim Allister and Reform UK boss Farage with Trump signing a unique trade deal between the UK and USA.

That’ll never happen, I already hear the woke Remain lobby scream! Just remember, when Biden was addressing audiences during his Irish tour, a second Biden term was clearly on the cards - and we all know how that turned out!

Hopefully too, key Trump supporter Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance will have a well-worded political death notice for the EU within the next four years.

Dr John Coulter has been a journalist since 1978.