Under President Trump second term, he sucks the oxygen in the room so all the attention is paid to him. For other countries they have to react to him, but there is no rule they have to work with him. President Trump has been changing working relationships with the many countries around the world and they have slowly started to change the relationships they have with the US.

In an article by Patricia Cohen of the New York Times News Service, the European Union (EU) has given a green light to sign a trade pact with 4 South American countries to create one of the world’s largest free-trade zones connecting markets for 700 million people.

The South American countries are Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Robert Z Lawrence, a professor of international trade and investment at Harvard University, said Mr. Trump’s policies are helping to create a world without America. In the short run, he is able to impose his will, but is he building a lasting basis on which America can interact with the rest of the world?

There are many problems with the treaty and the EU will have ratify it, but it is better than nothing. The US maybe the preferred country to work with, but reality exists.

At the same time, the US has declared South America as its zone of influence, will a free trade zone work? with the US allow it to work?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every consumer wants options in their lives and to the extent they can get them, they will buy there. If you take the options away, what will they do? Every year the internet connects more of the world, options exist.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.