The European Union needs to update it web page About human rights. It appears that the fundamental right to freeload from the American defense is missing.
The EU acts as if it were Qualified Considering his response to President Trump, he is protecting America without being disturbed. I think that happens when the continent that invented the welfare state is cut off from American welfare. Unfortunately, that's exactly the only brave story about completely separate from the US – a lot of stories.
The fundamental fact of the matter is that Europe does not have a good option to make any attempt to save partnerships with America or Trump.
First, Europeans need the lessons of history. Since 1917, Europe has been bailed eight times by the United States, with the continent being left to authoritarianism, chaos, depression and mass mortality. There were two world wars: the Second World War, the Markir Project after World War II, the Cold War, the Yugoslav civil war, the 2010-11 Euro crisis, and the massive hunger relief after the current war in Ukraine.
And US taxpayer bills are pretty expensive. Even a Marshall plan alone costs $13.5 billion ($2018). Two World Wars have been added Over $4 trillion Bill ($2008). The post-World War I hunger relief was a relatively inexpensive $4 billion.
It is absolutely true that the US has benefited from these interventions, but Europe has benefited much more. Consider 1919-1921 Hoover Hungry Relief Program.
Herbert Hoover and the US government used its food aid program to buy excess American grain with the political aim of limiting the spread of communism by feeding those in need in Russia. For many in Europe (particularly on the left), Urterior's motivation will cancel American credits. But I suggest that even if Iowa farmers checked it, the hungry child was probably fed.
It is difficult to come up with a major security or economic crisis over the past 100 years. Europe could not go three years after the end of the Cold War, as it needed American military power and diplomatic mediation to stop the genocide. Yugoslavian Civil Warfor example.
Even the recent foreboding is not good for Europe to defend itself, both military and economically. EU members still buy Russian oil and gas. In fact, there are in the EU countries. I bought it Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian hydrocarbons have been $220 billion. And despite the sanctions, Russian weapons are It's packed European parts and technology (and America, fair).
Worst of all, the EU has more than $200 billion in Russia's frozen assets. Now, after more than three years of war and the prospect of loss of American protection, Europeans are Consider tapping Frozen Russian assets – they have not yet planned to liquidate them. What Europeans can't (or don't understand) is that weakness promotes attacks when it comes to Russia. The failure to cash out Russian assets is a signal that Europe is not yet serious.
The EU should have learned this lesson when Russia invaded Ukraine. Much of Europe was mostly Germany and relied on Russian gas. What the Germans saw as a link between the two economies for mutual benefit and promotion of peace, the Russians clearly saw as an energy dependency that gives free reins for attacks on their neighbors. The Russians are certainly calculated, but Europe is paying the price.
So where will Europe go so that Trump doesn't pay any more bills? It's difficult to see. There was a rebellious talk about the alliance China and. Good luck with that.
Economically, China and Europe do not coincide. In the EU Trade surplus of 158 billion euros With the US 176.9 billion surplus whole. Meanwhile, China's Trade surplus In 2024, it was close to $1 trillion Over 300 billion The Euro with the EU – and its deficit has been on an upward trajectory for over a decade.
Countries with an economic model of export dependence make very bad partners – someone has to absorb the deficit. While there may be a match between natural resource producers and manufacturers, it is not here that both China and Europe are relatively poor in resources and focus on manufacturing.
Worse, China has a massive manufacturing overcapacity, and product dumping has spurred countries in Asia and Latin America to impose selective tariffs. Trump's general tariffs Add to the pain. China also wants to move above the value chain. This means driving away the European businesses sitting at the top. Who knows, perhaps the EU will agree to buy sophisticated products from China and Europe Cheap things They sell at Temu.
Europe was able to return to its own manufacturing and pre-Ukraine war model of cheap Russian energy that supports consumers. Of course, that means giving away the free hand to Russia in Ukraine, and wanting to grab the rest of the old Russian Empire. Such things make the past three years pointless.
Additionally, Europe and the EU are stuck in decision-making processes, cumbersome bureaucracy, decision-making processes simply impossible in a crisis where difficult decisions must be made. Many votes and de facto supermajority requirements The veto of the “Big Four” (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) slows and reduces the process.
Run by socialists and far from Russia, Spain has very different concerns than Poland, the Baltic countries and other “frontline” countries. France and Italy have a large debt, and France has a government that is barely functional. In the middle of a panic attack JD Vance's speech in Munichcalled “emergency summit” by Emmanuel Macron As a result, there was no agreement.
Europe is an aging continent that relies on legacy manufacturing. Coast runs along the U.S. military protection umbrella, ignoring US security concerns about China and Iran. Their leaders and voters have zero motivation to restructure at the expense of economic and security arrangements, and no one is ready to bail them out.
The dull truth is that their best option is to succumb to what Trump wants. Europe was placed in this position: it does not deserve sympathy.
Keith Norton He is a co-founder of Silent Majority Strategy, a public and regulatory business consulting firm, and a former political campaign consultant in Pennsylvania.
