They can't afford it. USA spent MASSIVE amounts of money on their proxy war against the RF, and since they can't extract it in lithium ore, they'll extract it from european taxpayers.

5% of GDP may seem like nothing BUT take a look at picrel. Germany eg spends only 30% of GDP as state expenses, because GDP is privately owned. If we add 5% ontop, it's an increase by 16,67%. Imagine paying extra 15% taxes just because USA budget needs to break even lmao. That's what they are hiding from you.