The purpose of the EU’s strategy is to hurt Trump’s Republican cohorts and their MAGA voter base as much as possible — without injuring European interests.
A 25 percent tariff on soybeans, the most valuable item on the bloc’s hit list, was to arrive last, giving European farmers, who use the product for animal feed, time to adapt and source their supply in Brazil or Argentina, for instance.
Over 80 percent of American soybean exports to the EU come from Louisiana, the home state of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson — something senior EU officials have been eager to emphasize.
Honestly, I'm not at all sure that that's the optimal strategy, if the goal is to place political pressure.
I am pretty sure that the places that Trump
not to mention Congressional Republicans
cares the most about political pressure affecting are not deep red states that would vote for a dead orangutan if it were running on a Republican ticket. The US political system renders their voices not very politically important. Rather, I'd think that swing states would be more of a concern. If people there are unhappy, that's more-likely to alter the balance of power.
The purple states, not the red. Louisiana isn't in that list.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/elections/presidential-election-swing-states.html
The even more-imminent pressure points, if targets are fine-grained enough, would be at-risk congressional districts in the upcoming midterms, since that's the most-immediate issue that impacts federal power in the US.
https://insideelections.com/ratings/house/2026-house-ratings-march-7-2025
Those are the politicians whose seats are most at risk based on what people are thinking. There isn't a single Louisiana seat on that list.
Sure, I'm personally exasperated with the "MAGA base". But if this is about producing maximum political pressure at a minimum of economic cost rather than than revenge or suchlike, I'm dubious that they're the correct target.
EDIT: Not to mention political enablers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch (/ˈmɜːrdɒk/ MUR-dok; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul.[3][4] Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including in the UK (The Sun and The Times), in Australia (The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, and The Australian), in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post), book publisher HarperCollins, and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Ruddy
Christopher Ruddy (born January 28, 1965) is an American journalist who is the CEO and majority owner[1] of Newsmax Media.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Herring_(businessman)
Robert Shelby Herring Sr. (born 1941) is an American businessman who founded Herring Networks, a media company that launched and currently owns AWE and One America News Network.[2][3]
What happens if the owners of, say, public-influencing media companies upon which Trump and associated politicians directly rely upon the support of suddenly and abruptly find that they are exposed to a disproportionate personal economic stake in Trump's policies?