As Europe endures record-breaking heat, a quiet commercial transformation is unfolding at the intersection of climate crisis and geopolitics: Chinese appliance makers are filling a cooling void that European manufacturers left open, and the citizens lining up outside stores are forcing their governments to reckon with the gap between trade policy and human necessity. What was once a continent that simply endured warm summers is now discovering, urgently, that it was never truly prepared for the summers that are coming. The irony is not lost on anyone — least of all the policymakers who must no