PARIS
European leaders are expressing growing alarm over the Trump administration’s approach to transatlantic relations, warning that Washington’s shifting policies are fracturing the unity that once defined the US-Europe cooperation, The Washington Post reported.
Just three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a strong and coordinated Western response, European policymakers now fear that US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is weakening that unity, the report said.
The US administration has pushed for a settlement with Russia without European input, demanded European nations send more troops to Ukraine, and engaged with far-right leaders in ways that unsettle traditional allies. During the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President JD Vance and other officials made their European debut, sending strong signals that the US may reduce its military presence in Europe, it said.
NATO allies left a defense ministers’ meeting concerned that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was considering a withdrawal of tens of thousands of US troops in the coming years, officials said.
Meanwhile, Trump’s 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, conducted without prior consultation with NATO allies or Ukraine, has deepened fears that the White House may be shifting toward Moscow’s viewpoint on the war, it added.
Amid these growing uncertainties, European leaders are scrambling to reassess their security strategy.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to convene key European figures in Paris on Monday to discuss Ukraine and the broader security landscape, while NATO allies discussed their next steps in light of Washington’s evolving stance.
Concerns over European security and far-right ties
European officials were further unsettled when Vance met with Alice Weidel, leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, making him the highest-ranking US official to do so, the report noted. His speech in Munich criticizing Germany’s mainstream parties for isolating AfD sparked backlash.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas accused Vance of “picking a fight” with allies, while other leaders pointed to AfD’s history of nationalist rhetoric, the report also said.
In Ukraine, Trump’s freeze on US aid has stalled critical energy repairs, with Ukrainian officials warning that prolonged outages could worsen as winter approaches.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had.”
