In Detroit, the Democrats are engaged in an open war of direction

With the WTO-compliant agreement, the high demands on ecology and food safety as well as the economic interests of the EU would be safeguarded and tariffs on EU exports would be prevented. Beyer called on the USA to finally start negotiations on an industrial tariff agreement in earnest.

The dispute over beef imports goes back a long way. In 1988 the EU banned the import of hormone meat. In 1999 the USA imposed tariffs on EU agricultural products in accordance with the rules of the World Trade Organization. In 2009 both sides came to an agreement. The result was a quota for the import of non-hormone-contaminated beef "high quality".

Obama already threatened sanctions

This did not only apply to the USA, but to all production countries. Ultimately, countries like Australia, Uruguay and Argentina benefited significantly from it, because they could offer cheaper than the USA. In 2016, the then US administration of President Barack Obama threatened to reintroduce the 1999 sanctions.

The current President Trump accuses the EU of unfair trade policies on a whole range of products. After punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum, he threatened the Europeans with surcharges on car imports into the USA. 

Trade dispute: Trump threatens France with wine tax Customs offer to the USA: SPD throws Altmaier "Buckling" vorAutozollle: How serious is Trump with his threats?

The EU hopes that the concessions now granted will ease the tensions in the trade conflict with the US. The EU wants "usher in a new phase in relations with the United States"said EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan after the provisional agreement in June.

Sources used: Reuters and AFP news agencies

25 Democratic candidates want to become president, 20 are allowed to compete in the TV duel in the USA. Which of them has what it takes to be a Trump challenger?

The Fox Theater on Woodward Avenue in Detroit is huge: the opulent cinema has a capacity of 5,048 seats, the walls are decorated with stucco, and the golden pillars soar endlessly into the air. It is the venue for the second double TV duel between the Democrats in the US presidential election campaign. In contrast to the bombast in the Fox Theater, the space under the spotlights is tiny. 25 men and women want to get President Trump out of office after just one term, 20 take part in the two TV duels: including mayors, senators, governors, a book author, an entrepreneur and an ex-vice president.

In Detroit, the Democrats are engaged in an open war of direction. The party base is pushing to the left and with them some of the candidates – the moderate field of applicants is positioning itself against this. The large number of candidates is by no means a bad sign.helping community essay Rather, it shows "that the incumbent is seen as weak"says political scientist Michael Dreyer from the University of Jena. Those who do not compete now have wasted their chance for now.

These are the Democrats’ Trump challengers

Photo series with 4 pictures

"If you want to beat Trump, you need a lot of money for your campaign and now you have to develop your own profile: I bet on an election campaign against Trump or on my own political content"says Christian Lammert, political scientist at the Free University of Berlin, t-online.de.

Bombastic scenery: the TV duels take place over two days at the Fox Theater in Detroit. (Source: imago images)

What does it take to seriously challenge incumbent Trump? And which of the candidates can best meet these requirements? Clear favorites include ex-Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, runner-up in the 2016 Democratic primary, and newcomer Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend. But what about the rest?

1. The campaign budget

If you want to become president, you first have to have a lot of money. The election campaign in the USA costs billions. While the German parties spent around 150 million euros in the 2013 federal election campaign, the fight for the White House turned into a real financial battle under Barack Obama at the latest. The presidential and congressional elections cost Obama and his rival Mitt Romney six billion dollars. Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s election campaigns also cost nearly seven billion dollars.

According to current surveys, the favorite trio of Biden, Sanders and Warren are among the financially strongest candidates in the current primary campaign.

Sanders has been collecting loudly for the past three months "Financial Times" $ 14 million, so Joe Biden made $ 11 million and Elizabeth Warren made $ 10.6 million.

High-flyer Pete Buttigieg, who raised $ 8.8 million in funds last quarter and now has a total of $ 24.9 million in donations, has caught up with the favorites – a total of $ 3 million more than Biden, who has a budget of has around $ 22 million.

Pete Buttigieg: The Mayor of South Bend has found many supporters for his election campaign. He raised $ 24.9 million in this quarter alone. (Source: imago images)  

Unlike the ex-vice president, the openly gay mayor Buttigieg not only scores points with high-income Americans. The small donations under $ 200 make up € 11 million in the 37-year-old’s total budget. Only Sanders is better here, who finances almost his entire campaign budget of over 25 million dollars from small donations.

On the other hand, Kamala Harris is lagging behind in terms of donations. The co-favorite from California was only able to collect three million dollars in recent months. That will not be enough in the long run.

200 million have already flowed into the election campaign

The candidates have already put more than 200 million dollars into their election campaign. Beto O’Rourke stands out in particular. He had only just lost to the Republican incumbent and huge favorite Ted Cruz in the Texas congressional election, and was therefore briefly considered the Democrats’ new star.

His problem: he makes a lot less money than he burns. For every dollar he raised for his campaign, he currently spends 1.49 dollars, the lists "Financial Times" on. His donation volume is also low at $ 5.2 million in the second quarter of the year. Only New York candidate Kisten Gillibrand was more generous than O’Rourke when it came to squandering the campaign money: she earned $ 8.2 million – but for every dollar there is $ 1.83 in spending.

But these are only snapshots. Because it is also important: The money must not only flow once. The presidential campaign is long and the money must be available continuously. Buttigieg’s current high does not have to mean that he will continue to be one of the most funded candidates in the future. Above all, the supporters of ex-Vice President Biden are considered generous on several occasions – that could still pay off for him.

2. The statistics of the past

A look at the statistics could perhaps already reveal the next President of the USA – were it not for the two absolute exceptional cases from 2008 and 2018: Among the Democratic candidates are:

Seven SenatorsOne Ex-SenatorOne Former Obama Vice PresidentA Former Minister in Obama’s CabinetTwo GovernorsOne Ex-GovernorThree Acting MayorsThree CongressmenThree Ex-CongressmenOne Hedge Fund ManagerOne Start-Up EntrepreneurA writer

If history is a clue for the upcoming presidential election, all congressmen – current and former – can already pack their bags. In American history, only one member of the House of Representatives has managed to climb the presidency directly: James Garfield – that was in 1880.

Senators don’t have good cards either. Only three of them made it straight to the White House – although there were exceptionally popular candidates among them: Warren Harding in 1920, John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Ex-Vice President Joe Biden: He leads the polls by a large margin over Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He will take part in the TV duel on Wednesday. (Source: imago images)

On the other hand, governors have the best chances of becoming president. Unlike senators and members of Congress, they do not have to incur the displeasure of interest groups in constant voting processes. They stand outside a parliamentary body, can initiate reforms in their states and later refer to these successes. Biden can do that as Vice President – and Donald Trump, who started his election campaign in 2017 as an allegedly successful entrepreneur, could do that.

But Trump is also a sign of a different development that can currently be observed in the USA as in many other countries. "There is a feeling that professional politicians are no longer so wanted"says Lammert. "Political experience becomes less important. Instead, people want to see fresh and fresh faces." This is where Pete Buttigieg stands out. The mayor of the comparatively small town of South Bend is close to the citizen, but he still has executive experience, said Lammert.  

3. The profile and the "Electability"

The US election campaign relies on faces – concrete content can take a back seat. For this reason, among other things, populism is much more widespread in American politics than in other countries. The political direction hardly plays a role either. Both Republicans, currently seen under President Trump, and the Democrats see populists as promising politicians.

Among the Democratic candidates, there are over half a dozen people who show populist tendencies. With Bernie Sanders, for example, the struggle for the lower social classes is a central component of his presidential movement. Beto O’Rourke also does not score with a page-filling election program. Pete Buttigieg started his election campaign in a populist way, but he is now more moderate and tries to win back conservative votes for the Democrats. He was also the first Democratic candidate to appear in a town hall meeting on ultra-conservative news channel Fox News – and received a standing ovation at the end.

That goes for Elizabeth Warren too. she is a "Frontier worker" between the progressive and traditionally programmatic candidates. In the TV debate, she showed that she can also do populism: like Sanders, she takes the point of view of one "Medicare for All", so an expansion of the state health insurance for everyone. Warren said she doesn’t understand why someone is running for president "just to talk about what we really can’t do and what we shouldn’t fight for". This is followed by enthusiastic cheers from the audience. But also from the millions in front of the home TV screen?

Elizabeth Warren: She knows how to position herself better and better against fellow favorite Sanders. (Source: imago images)

The question for the Democrats is whether they want to win back voters from the center of Trump or inspire their own, left-wing, progressive base and drive them to the ballot box. The candidates are now positioning themselves in this mixed bag, says Lammert. There is Joe Biden, who promises to bring back the working class that has migrated to Trump. Or Elizabeth Warren, who inspires the base and even surpasses Sanders, who seems to be leading his current election campaign almost exactly as in 2016. Lammert: "Warren has adopted Sanders’ positions and added his own. That is what makes them so successful at the moment." 

Political scientist Dreyer also mentions "Electability" as an important criterion that a candidate needs to get from as many voters as possible, especially in the densely populated "Swing States" Florida, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin to be elected. Many of the more populist applicants for the Democrats have this charisma – including Joe Biden, a leader in the polls, a representative of the traditional Democratic Party.

A look at current polls reveals that the ex-vice president would currently be elected by almost every third Democratic voter. Bernie Sanders (15 percent), Elizabeth Warren (14.5) and Kamala Harris (11.8 percent) follow behind. Newcomer Buttigieg also only has 5 percent of potential votes from democratic voters. But these values ​​are not set in stone.

In 2008, Bill Clinton led the primaries well ahead of the future President Obama. In 2016, Jepp Bush experienced an even bigger disaster: "Nobody would have doubted that he would be the Republican presidential candidate"says Lammert. But then came Trump.

4. Supporters and the right vice

In addition to money and charisma, a prospective US president also needs a team of competent advisors and a lot of staying power: an election campaign for a Senate seat or for the governor’s post cannot be compared with a presidential campaign. In every major state, the prospective president must have a network of supporters. Usually the politicians have built this up over many years. Joe Biden can draw on his time as presidential candidate and vice-president under Obama. All the other candidates have not yet waged any national election campaigns – and therefore have some catching up to do.