{"id":511869,"date":"2026-04-04T03:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/511869\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T03:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:41:13","slug":"the-united-states-is-no-friend-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/511869\/","title":{"rendered":"The United States is no friend of Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Photo by Leon Neal\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

President Trump has made a habit of publicly shaming, if not outright insulting, European leaders. The usual response has been a polite smile, coupled with acceptance of American demands: higher defence spending (read: purchasing more US weapons), acquiescence to unilateral tariffs, and tolerance of limited EU regulation of major \u201cBig Tech\u201d platforms. During Trump\u2019s first term, the EU was far more assertive vis-\u00e0-vis the United States. However, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has left Europe painfully dependent on American security guarantees, reinforcing the perceived need to tolerate what some observers describe as Trump\u2019s quasi-sultanic behaviour. European leaders have also taken note of his ruthless treatment of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who \u201cdared\u201d to speak his mind in the Oval Office a year ago.<\/p>\n

Over time, however, efforts to flatter and appease Trump have appeared increasingly futile \u2013 if not counterproductive. He has continued to berate European leaders, threaten new tariffs, and question the viability of Nato and its security guarantees. When the American president threatened to annex Greenland \u201cthe hard way\u201d, Europeans finally began to push back. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement defending Greenland\u2019s sovereignty as a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump ultimately backed down and withdrew his threat \u2013 likely because he was already preparing a far more consequential international move: Operation Epic Fury in Iran.<\/p>\n

The military operation in Iran was not coordinated with European allies, even though it has directly affected them in multiple negative ways. More recently, President Trump has called for European military support as the conflict shifted from the phase of \u201cepic fury\u201d to one of awkward stalemate \u2013 particularly after Iran blocked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil chokepoint through which a significant share of the world\u2019s seaborne oil passes each year.<\/p>\n

At that point, several European capitals decided to stand their ground. Spain closed its airspace to US aircraft involved in the war after Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez described the operation as illegal, reckless, and unjust. Other leaders avoided such harsh rhetoric vis-\u00e0-vis their American ally, but adopted similarly restrictive positions. France denied the use of its bases for offensive operations against Iran and refused airspace permissions for flights linked to the war. Even Italy \u2013 led by Trump\u2019s European prot\u00e9g\u00e9e, the prime minister Giorgia Meloni \u2013 denied permission for US military aircraft to land at the Sicilian air base, reportedly because Washington had not sought prior authorisation from Rome.<\/p>\n

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Other European capitals have taken a different stance. Most notably, Germany and Poland have not imposed restrictions on US military access (although there are reports that Poland declined a request to redeploy one of their Patriot systems to the Middle East). The United Kingdom has adopted a more nuanced \u2013 or, one might say, ambivalent \u2013 position. After some initial hesitation, the British government authorised the US to use bases on its territory to conduct strikes on Iranian missile sites targeting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, framing it as a defensive measure. At the same time, Downing Street has insisted that Britain will not be drawn into a wider war with Iran and has called for urgent de-escalation and a swift resolution.<\/p>\n

European leaders rightly argue that Nato is a defensive alliance and should not be used to support offensive operations against Iran. Indeed, Article 1 of the Nato Treaty commits its members to settle disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from the threat or use of force in ways inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations. This, however, has not prevented President Trump from questioning the very rationale of the Alliance: \u201cYou\u2019ll have to start learning how to fight for yourselves; the USA won\u2019t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren\u2019t there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes are high. European militaries will remain dependent on American weapons and intelligence for years to come. At the same time, Ukraine\u2019s ability to sustain its resistance against Russia is unlikely to endure without continued U.S. military support \u2013 support that is, at present, largely financed by European taxpayers.<\/p>\n

Historians are right to point out that the Atlantic alliance has survived for decades despite frequent bust-ups. Three decades ago, for instance, William Wallace and I protested in the pages of Foreign Affairs against a wave of Euro-bashing in the United States. Then, as now, American triumphalism went hand in hand with laments about Europe\u2019s lack of strategic direction and overall weakness. \u201cEurope is resigned to be a quasi-autonomous protectorate of the US,\u201d argued Irving Kristol, while Senator Jesse Helms famously declared that \u201cthe European Union could not fight its way out of a wet paper bag\u201d.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, however: this time is different. The rift between Europe and the United States is now more fundamental, threatening Europe\u2019s very existence as a continent that has enjoyed prosperity and peace for eight decades.<\/p>\n

In the past, the United States primarily wanted Europeans to shoulder a greater share of the costs of its security leadership. Now, President Trump fraternises with Vladimir Putin, who has openly declared war on Europe. Previously, Washington encouraged European integration to avoid being drawn into costly intra-European conflicts. Today, Trump and his allies appear to encourage parties such as Alternative for Germany, Lega, Fidesz, and Law and Justice to undermine the integration project. Liberalism once formed the ideological foundation of the Atlantic alliance; today, it \u2013 and its core pillars, such as the rule of law, free trade, and multilateral diplomacy \u2013 is under sustained pressure from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Most European leaders now seem to recognise that Trump intends to turn them into America\u2019s \u201cvassals\u201d, to use the term employed by several well-known European politicians. Yet they still lack a credible and unified strategy to respond to this challenge. Europe remains a mosaic of states of different sizes and capabilities, shaped by distinct histories and memories, and embedded at varying levels of institutional integration. Some states fear Russia and the spillovers from its military actions in Eastern Europe; others are more concerned about instability emanating from the Middle East. Some are governed by liberal leaders who oppose Trump\u2019s anti-liberal agenda, while others are led by his admirers.<\/p>\n

The United States has long tried \u2013 often unsuccessfully \u2013 to bring these diverse European states into a coherent strategic line, which helps explain why Washington consistently pushed for deeper European integration. The European Union itself was designed to make war among its members impossible through trade, democracy, the rule of law, and diplomacy. Yet it remains ill-suited to address security challenges posed by external powers that rely on force rather than norms and laws.<\/p>\n

As Fran\u00e7ois Heisbourg has put it, traditional power politics \u2013 la g\u00e9opolitique de grand-papa \u2013 was largely delegated to Nato, and Washington was long reluctant to see a distinct European caucus emerging within the Alliance. Now that the United States is turning away from Nato, Europe\u2019s security architecture may have to be rebuilt from scratch. Even admirers of Donald Trump must acknowledge that the transatlantic alliance now rests on shifting sands, and that Europe needs a \u201cPlan B\u201d. The crucial question is whether such a plan can provide security and prosperity without the rule of law and democracy \u2013 let alone without the environmentally responsible economy and multilateral diplomacy that Trump so openly disdains.<\/p>\n

A European \u201cPlan B\u201d will not emerge overnight \u2013 a serious problem given mounting pressures. Still, several points are clear. First, Europe\u2019s strength lies in its economic, regulatory, and normative power. Its approach to international relations has long reflected the ideas of Hugo Grotius and Immanuel Kant rather than Niccol\u00f2 Machiavelli or Thomas Hobbes. These assets helped stabilise Europe after the Cold War and should not be abandoned lightly. Second, Europe\u2019s neglect of defence integration has been a mistake. However, a fully-fledged European army may be neither feasible nor desirable. More flexible arrangements \u2013 coalitions of willing and able states, including non-EU countries such as the United Kingdom and Norway \u2013 may offer more realistic solutions.<\/p>\n

And third, Europe cannot be secured without British cooperation. This creates an opportunity to repair ties damaged by Brexit. However, small-group formats such as an E3 (France, Germany, and the UK) cannot substitute for broader European coordination, which must include frontline states such as Finland, Poland, and Lithuania, as well as southern countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain \u2013 not to mention dynamic international actors such as Sweden and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Finally, the European Union and the United States remain deeply interdependent. While the EU is the junior partner, it remains one of the world\u2019s leading powers \u2013 comparable in many respects to China and far ahead of Russia, India, and Japan. The idea that Europe will step in to \u201cclean up\u201d the consequences of US actions in the Middle East reflects a profound misreading of both European capabilities and political will.<\/p>\n

The transatlantic alliance is no longer what it once was. What began as a dispute over burden-sharing has evolved into a deeper conflict over strategy, values, and global order. Europe is beginning to push back \u2013 but it has yet to develop a coherent alternative. Whether such an alternative can preserve both Europe\u2019s security and its normative foundations remains an open question. What is evident, however, is that the old assumptions of the Atlantic partnership no longer hold. At best, what remains is a partnership stripped of illusions, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

[Further reading: How would a US ground assault on Iran unfold?<\/a>] <\/p>\n

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