U.S. President Donald Trump's barrage of attacks on the European Union (EU), from migration to regulation, and with a new national security strategy, codify a seismic shift in transatlantic relations, a European expert said Friday.
Released last week, the U.S. policy document claims Europe faces "civilisational erasure" within the next two decades and criticized Europe's crackdown on far-right forces as political "censorship." It says the U.S. will "cultivate resistance" in the bloc to "correct its current trajectory."
In an interview with Politico published Tuesday, Trump has once again provoked outrage among his European allies, describing them as "weak" and leading a "decaying" group of nations, criticizing the region's response to immigration and the war in Ukraine.
The United States also signaled its support for far-right forces in Europe, which shocked Europe even more. Trump said that he would continue to support European politicians whom he sees as more capable.
In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the U.S. president should not interfere into democratic processes in the EU member countries.
Sven Biscop, acting director-general of the Royal Institute for International Relations, a government-dependent and non-profit Brussels-based think tank, expressed his concern about U.S. interference in the internal affairs of European countries in an interview with CGTN.
"I think what upsets Europeans most is the very explicit promise in the national security strategy of the U.S. that the Americans will intervene in our domestic policies to cultivate resistance, they say, basically against the European Union. And that kind of intervention or domestic politics cannot be tolerated," Biscop said.
Biscop believes the United States' repeated criticisms and contemptuous remarks towards Europe indicate a structural shift in its strategic positioning of Europe, suggesting a potential decisive rift in U.S.-EU relations and a weakening or even collapse of their alliance.
"But it will never be the alliance as we knew it during the Cold War. That will not come back. It's no longer the case that whatever happens, the U.S. and the EU will always agree, or will always be on the same side. That's a really big structural change," he said.
New U.S. national security strategy represents shift in transatlantic relations: expert
New U.S. national security strategy represents shift in transatlantic relations: expert
New U.S. national security strategy represents shift in transatlantic relations: expert
