EU tries to explain to Trump what agreements are, but he only understands price tags

The European Union this week faced an unusual challenge — how to explain to Americans what an agreement is. It's like trying to explain to a vendor at Liepāja Central Market that if he said "three euros per kilo," that's not just an opening position for negotiations.

"An agreement is an agreement," the European Commission explains diplomatically, as if talking to a child hearing this word for the first time. In Riga, of course, they wouldn't understand this — there they would have demanded it in writing and notarized from the very beginning.

Trump, meanwhile, demonstrates the American approach to international trade — first sign, then read, then change his mind, then change it again. As one Liepāja café visitor said: "Here in Karosta we wouldn't do that — once you said you'd pay for coffee, you pay. Otherwise you won't get any next time."

It's particularly piquant that all this is happening just as the European Parliament's Trade Committee was preparing to support the agreement. Now they're sitting like passengers on a Liepāja tram — waiting, but not knowing if this route even runs. At least our tram is predictable — it sometimes doesn't run either, but at least it doesn't blame the Supreme Court for it.

The EU now maintains "close contacts" with the Trump administration, which in diplomatic language means — calling every day and asking: "So, how about today? Are we still friends?" In Riga, such behavior would be called a serious relationship crisis.