{"id":300666,"date":"2025-12-05T15:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/300666\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:49:08","slug":"cultivate-resistance-policy-paper-lays-bare-trump-support-for-europes-far-right-us-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/300666\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cultivate resistance\u2019: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe\u2019s far right | US foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s administration has said Europe<\/a> faces \u201ccivilisational erasure\u201d within the next two decades as a result of migration and EU integration, arguing in a policy document that the US must \u201ccultivate resistance\u201d within the continent to \u201cEurope\u2019s current trajectory\u201d.<\/p>\n

Billed as \u201ca roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth\u201d, the US National Security Strategy<\/a> makes explicit Washington\u2019s support for Europe\u2019s nationalist far-right parties.<\/p>\n

The document, with a signed introduction by Trump, says Europe is in economic decline but its \u201creal problems are even deeper\u201d, including \u201cactivities of the EU that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition \u2026 and loss of national identities\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 33-page exposition of Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d worldview appears to espouse the racist \u201cgreat replacement\u201d conspiracy theory<\/a>, saying several countries risk becoming \u201cmajority non-European\u201d and Europe faces \u201cthe real and stark prospect of civilisational erasure\u201d. It adds: \u201cShould present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less.\u201d<\/p>\n

US policies must therefore include \u201ccultivating resistance to Europe\u2019s current trajectory within European nations\u201d as well as enabling Europe to \u201ctake primary responsibility for its own defence\u201d and \u201copening European markets to US goods and services\u201d.<\/p>\n

Responding to the strategy document on Friday, Germany\u2019s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said the US remained a vital ally on security but \u201cquestions of freedom of expression or the organisation of our free societies\u201d did not fall into that category.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see ourselves as being able to discuss and debate these matters entirely on our own in the future, and do not need outside advice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Johann Wadephul rejected the need for \u2018outside advice\u2019 from the US. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The policy document, released by the White House late on Thursday, underscores the Trump administration\u2019s clear alignment with Europe\u2019s far-right nationalist parties, whose policies centre on attacking supposed EU overreach and excessive non-EU migration.<\/p>\n

In language that will appear extraordinary to close allies, it says the US should \u201cstand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression and unapologetic celebrations of European nations\u2019 individual character and history\u201d, adding that Washington \u201cencourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n

With far-right parties either in government, supporting rightwing coalitions or leading in the polls in several EU member states, the document says the \u201cgrowing influence of patriotic European parties \u2026 gives cause for great optimism\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to foster closer ties with Europe\u2019s nationalist parties, including Germany\u2019s far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland<\/a> (AfD). In September a senior AfD party figure visited the White House for meetings with senior officials.<\/p>\n

On immigration, the strategy document appears to endorse the \u201cgreat replacement\u201d conspiracy theory, which claims ethnic white European populations are deliberately being replaced by non-white peoples. It says it is \u201cmore than plausible\u201d that \u201cwithin a few decades at the latest\u201d some European Nato<\/a> members \u201cwill become majority non-European\u201d.<\/p>\n

It claims Europe must \u201cremain European, regain its civilisational self-confidence and abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation,\u201d arguing that the continent\u2019s lack of assurance is evident in its relationship with Russia.<\/p>\n

As Trump seeks an end to the Ukraine war that would most likely favour Russia gaining territory, the document accuses Europeans of showing weakness. Despite a \u201csignificant hard power advantage\u201d, it says, many on the continent \u201cregard Russia as an existential threat\u201d.<\/p>\n

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It argues it is a \u201ccore interest of the US to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine\u201d but that Washington \u201cfinds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition\u201d.<\/p>\n

It claims that a \u201clarge European majority\u201d wants peace in Ukraine but that this \u201cis not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments\u2019 subversion of democratic processes\u201d.<\/p>\n

The document\u2019s publication came hours after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, reportedly warned<\/a> his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the US could \u201cbetray Ukraine on territory, without clarity on security guarantees\u201d.<\/p>\n

The thrust of the US text echoes JD Vance\u2019s<\/a> brutal ideological attack on Europe at this year\u2019s Munich security conference, in which the US vice-president accused EU leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running from voters\u2019 true beliefs.<\/p>\n

The document concedes that Europe remains \u201cstrategically and culturally vital\u201d to the US, with transatlantic trade one of the pillars of the global economy and US prosperity. It also says the US \u201cneeds a strong Europe to help us successfully compete and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

It adds that Washington wants to \u201cwork with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness\u201d.<\/p>\n

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