Memo to Europe: Remember Neville Chamberlain

You cannot appease a tyrant. You must hit back hard.

To: European leaders

From: Robert Reich

It is impossible to appease a tyrant.

You struck a trade deal with Trump last year. He is now threatening to rip it up and apply economic coercion and even military force if you do not allow him to annex Greenland. He is also on the brink of allowing Russia to annex part of Ukraine.

Today, on his “Truth Social,” Trump reposted a comment saying, “China and Russia are the boogeymen when the real threat is the U.N., NATO and [Islam].”

This is madness.

Most Americans are as opposed to Trump’s wild and illegal actions as you are. But we have no means of expressing our opposition because Trump’s Republicans control Congress and, in effect, the Supreme Court. You do have means.

I urge you to activate your so-called anti-coercion instrument, colloquially known as the “trade bazooka,” which will block some of America’s access to EU markets or impose export controls, among a broader list of potential countermeasures.

I need not remind you of Neville Chamberlain’s interactions with Adolf Hitler in 1938. Chamberlain met Hitler three times, culminating in the infamous Munich Agreement, which allowed Germany to annex Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland in exchange for Hitler’s promise of peace. Returning to London, Chamberlain waved a signed Anglo-German declaration and famously declared “peace for our time.” Instead, Chamberlain had merely emboldened Hitler’s aggression. Hitler soon broke his promise, leading to World War II.

The time for appeasing Trump is over.