The trade war forces Europe to look for alternatives to the US, on several levels. With the digital euro getting closer, the ECB wants to speed up the process in order to to escape dependence on the two largest payment networks in the European economy, which are both… North American.
From India to Mercosur, there are several trading partners with whom European institutions have strengthened ties in recent months. At its origin is the climate of commercial tensionwhich is based on American isolationism accelerated by Donald Trump, president of the USA. The scenario forces the EU and the European Central Bank to look for alternatives.
Among the needs considered most urgent is the increase in European sovereignty. This aspect ranges from the Defense sector to the financial sector. It is in the latter that the euro digitalwhich has been in the plans for several years but now promises to be a game changer.
At issue is an ECB plan to bring together digital transactions into a single systemwhich will be supervised by this institution. This would allow it to escape the fluctuation of Trump’s decisions regarding trade sanctions involving Visa and Mastercard.
The two companies are leaders in payment card networks and are headquartered in North America, meaning are a possible vehicle for Trump sanctions, as was the case recently.
It’s just that the French judge Nicolas Guillou was sanctioned by the United States and is prevented from carrying out transactions through Visa or Mastercard. The decision came precisely from Donald Trump and is linked to the judge’s investigation work on Israel and Palestine, representing the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Consequently, cannot make payments with debit or credit cardseven if you try to do them on your cell phone. The situation renewed concerns associated with European sovereignty and Emmanuel Macron, French president, himself asked Trump to lift the sanctions.
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