Donald Trump, with all fronts open and without a trace of delay, is proceeding with what he has committed to several months before his election. After Gaza, after opening the chapter of the war in Ukraine, the US president is proceeding systematically with attacks against Europe.
Washington’s moves are declarative of the intentions of the White House, as on the one hand Trump and his policies tend to make things clear with the narrative “either with us or against us” and on the other hand to present two different faces within a few hours, confusing those who continue to incorrectly interpret him in traditional political and diplomatic terms.
The issue that continues to “confound” friends, enemies and analysts of the 47th president of the United States, one month after Trump’s inauguration, is that for him there is no institution, there is only himself and the goals he has set.
Everything about Trump’s USA is conditional and there is nothing “massive”, except that China is the main – perhaps the only enemy today. The way in which the Oval Office “emptied” and then attacked Ukraine and Zelensky is indicative of the way in which the country’s business-like president wants to do “business” more than politics.
From the first day of his term, Trump had included the European Union in the sanctions plan, but escalating towards “easy” targets due to their proximity: Mexico and Canada. On Friday, February 28, he announced that the Union was created to “exploit the US and it does it very well.”
The American president’s favorite numbers show a picture that shows the dynamics of the Union.
- The Europe of 27 – even without Britain – is by far a larger market than the United States.
- The European Union is also a larger exporting power than America and this creates the imbalance in the trade balance that actually exists.
- Europe is also an extremely critical zone for the defense of the world, but also a zone that the United States itself chose in other situations, times and circumstances, to turn into its “tool” against the threat from the east.
- Trump and his government are right that the United States spends multiple amounts on the defense of the European continent, but they forget that this was not a choice of the Europeans, but of the United States itself.
- Europe is also the most important market for the United States’ adversary, Beijing. It is the Union that has given the Chinese economy such growth rates over the last 15 years, and it is Europe that absorbs the bulk of major Chinese investments.
The way in which the American president decides to act by imposing 25% tariffs on the Union is a move that he knows very well will have little or no impact on Europe economically.
American products are not the choice of Europeans – especially those that Trump persistently refers to (ed. vehicles and agricultural products) – quite simply because European counterparts are preferred for various reasons.
Europe is also by far the only place that has both the means and the willingness to impose sanctions on the real “flagship” of the US – technology companies. The fines imposed on American technology giants over the last four years are enormous, and even the appeals that American companies have filed, taking their cases to court, will hardly succeed.
Trump is right at the end of the road. The US is in a dire position compared to Europe, in all the indicators that he considers critical.
The Union’s Gaps, Vance’s “Bell” and the “Backdoor” of the Far Right
The US president, having tangible data in his hands, has decided to counterattack and not simply pressure Europe. He seems to know quite well that the Union may have potential, but it is weak on issues that he himself has resolved. There is no state today that is “rebelling”, regardless of whether or not it has objections and objections to the way Trump is “running” the country – but even if it does, it is rather “extreme” that tomorrow one of the 50 US states will vote to withdraw from the Federation.
In the opposite direction, for years now Europe has appeared anything but united.
1. Its economic union has divided it more than it has united it, and this division has taken on dimensions, leading countries like Hungary and Slovakia not only to disagree with common policies, but also to block them, single-handedly promoting their own agenda on many issues.
2. Issues such as the “Euroconstitution” and the “Euroarmy” have been discussed for years without any tangible result, the mechanisms in all European institutions appear to be at least cumbersome and ineffective when it comes to the real needs of citizens, and the image of the edifice that was created with much effort and concessions is rapidly declining.
The war that Trump has chosen to wage with Europe is not one-dimensional. He has the main role, but there are now clearly several who have taken a significant share in the attack and the “dirty” work.
The lesson in “ethics and values” from Vice President Vance in Munich was the bellwether, but Musk’s unlimited support for any nationalist and far-right party in the Union is a given risk.
The US has made a strategic decision and is executing a plan for which we have only had some idea in the last 40 days. The elections in Germany and Macron’s presence in Washington are some positive elements – but that’s it.
No single intervention by a European country can today not only stop the offensive from Washington, but also close the far-right “back door”, which the US will certainly use.
The answers today are demanding and more necessary than ever to all third parties and perhaps the mirror that Trump’s USA has raised in front of Europe’s face is the greatest -real- gift they have ever made to the European continent.
What is required is today and not in the distant future for Europeans to see collectively and collectively the hard truths, the flaws and inconsistencies of their system and to make use of what the USA recognizes that they fear: the real and not the virtual union of the continent.
