To be clear, the European subsidy complaints are both unfair and ill-timed. The EU does plenty of its own subsidising of important industries. And in some cases it should; we need redundancy of supply at an international level for things like semiconductors, crucial commodities, clean technology and various other strategic goods and services. But German auto tariffs are far higher than those in America, and the US is currently running a major trade deficit with the EU and in particular with Germany. Whether you believe such deficits are important economically, they carry a large weight in US politics (particularly post-Donald…