In the second week of February, a key development took European nations by a rather shocking surprise. Europe won’t be a part of the peace talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, said the United States’ Ukraine envoy.
General Keith Kellogg made the announcement after the US sent a questionnaire to European countries asking as to what they could contribute when it came to security guarantees for Kyiv.
Trump giving tough time to Europe?
The moves are not one off instances highlighting Trump’s retake on European allies. Whether eyeing up Greenland, negotiating peace with Putin, slapping tariffs, the Trump administration has increasingly made diplomacy a tightrope walk for European leaders.
The message runs clear through all the geopolitical moves — that the US is re-centering its equation with the European allies. The message was also put forth in words by US Vice President JD Vance in his speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany wherein he stated that the Trump administration would mark a pivot in terms of the US-Europe relationship.
Thereafter, Vance didn’t hold back from taking aim at European countries during his first international visit after Trump took charge. Be it accusing leaders of rollbacks, lax migration laws, censorship of free speech or questioning their defence budgets and thus security commitments, Vance ruffled many feathers in the continent.
“President Trump has made abundantly clear he believes that our European friends must play a bigger role in the future of this continent. We don’t think – you hear this term “burden sharing” but we think it’s an important part of being in a shared alliance together that the Europeans step up while America focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger.”
Vance’s remarks, expectedly, didn’t go down well with others at Munich and even garnered a swift rebuke from some.
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Shortly after the speech, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius came down heavily and said Vance’s claims could not go unresponded. “There’s no way in which we can have discussions or negotiations about Ukraine’s future or European security structure without Europe,” said Finland’s President Alexander Stubb.
What do US’ European allies have to say?
Not ready to accept things lying down, the following Monday European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris to consolidate their stance against the Trump administration’s decision to exclude Europe from peace talks with Russia over Ukraine. The gathering is aimed at addressing the “situation in Ukraine and security issues in Europe by bringing together all the partners interested in peace and security,” read the statement from French President Emmanuel Macron’s office a day before the meeting.
US-Europe relations, moving forward
Making it bluntly clear to its European counterparts, the Trump administration has called for NATO members to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence and take primary responsibility for the region, stating that the US has other concerns to address such as border security and countering China.
Those who’ve carefully read into Trump’s campaigns and statements know that his “America First ideology” doesn’t align with the trans-Atlantic partnership as it has existed for decades.
The US’ new position on Europe was also highlighted by new Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth at Ukraine Defence Contact Group, where he stated, “The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency.” A logical next step in diplomatic relations, given the changed political realities, opine some in the Trump administration.
They question as to why has the continent still not taken over its own self-defence 80 years after the Nazis were defeated. In a recent appearance on “The Megyn Kelly Show”, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested, “the US should not be the front end of European security but rather the back stop.”
“They are relying on us to be the front end and that’s not an alliance. That’s a dependence and we don’t want that.”
He went on to rebuke the big European powers. “When you ask those guys, why can’t you spend more on national security, their argument is because it would require us to make cuts to welfare programmes, to unemployment benefits, to being able to retire at 59 and all these other things. That’s the choice they made. But we’re subsidising that?”
The US under Trump, has re-centered its priorities and made them amply clear in words even as the signs were there long before. Now it remains to be seen how Europe recalibrates its relationship with the US and whether it will step up.
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