Hanif Ghaffari
The European Union remains confused by Donald Trump. European countries did not respond decisively to the White House in some cases, such as the US customs tariff, the withdrawal of the Trump government from a nuclear deal with Iran and the withdrawal of the Paris Pact. While US National Security Advisor John Bolton and Trump have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the existence of the European Union and the Eurozone, Europe has not taken any steps towards independence from the United States.
Many analysts of international affairs have recently had a special focus on US-EU relations! Some signals and speeches by the President of the United States which are addressed to the European authorities indicate the full opposition of the White House to the European Union. Over the past few months, there has been news about the specific talks between the President of the United States and some of the European Union’s member states. Trump called on French President “Emmanuel Macron” to leave the European Union and thus build wider bilateral relations with the United States! On the other hand, Trump has officially asked the British Prime Minister “Theresa May” to sue the European Union rather than interacting with it. These are indications of the wide and extensive opposition of the United States to United Europe. This confrontation can become a full-fledged dispute in the future. However, the European Union has not yet made a firm response to the United States, and it has adopted a policy of ” having interactions with Trump,” but this policy can’t be adopted for a long time!
The reality is that the European Union is going through a dangerous path! The European officials haven’t yet understood the extent of Trump’s hostility to the existence of the United European! This is while the trade war between Trump and the European Union has entered a new phase. European officials are now faced with a president who sees “economic protectionism” as a major policy in the field of commerce, and in the future, he will try to pursue this policy even more seriously.
Undoubtedly, in the near future and ahead of the European Parliamentary elections (next month), Trump and the White House will do more to confront the EU. The president of the United States and his entourage support the victory of radical and nationalist parties in the European Parliamentary elections.
As noted above, tensions between the United States and Europe are not just about political issues! Undoubtedly, there will soon be more economic disputes between America and Europe. In other words, the Trade war between these two will become more intense in near future. Furthermore, countries like China and Canada will also enter this confrontation with the United States. At their most recent meeting, European officials argued that they have the right to respond to Trump’s actions. However, some European authorities, including Theresa May, believed that amid the existing disagreements raised between Brussels and Washington, EU leaders should attempt to negotiate and hold talks with Trump. Obviously, the British Prime Minister’s views can’t be accepted by other European players, and that’s because now Britain is on the brink of leaving the European Union, and this country has now become a symbol of inconsistency in this block.
It is as if the European authorities have closed their eyes to the facts that have been observed since 2016! In the course of the 2016 presidential elections in the United States, Trump had expressed his opposition to the “existence of United Europe.” Trump’s particular support for” Brexit” and beyond that, his support for nationalist and far-right extremists in European countries, indicated the full opposition of the US President with the European Union and the Eurozone.
The evidence suggests that the relations between Trump and the nationalist groups and the opponents of United Europe remain strong.
Thus, the conflict between the White House and United Europe is a kind of fundamental conflict, one that will continue until the collapse of United Europe or the end of Trump’s time at the White House.
Trump publically calls for the destruction of United Europe, and he doesn’t hesitate to express this opposition to this block.
On the one hand, he intends to support the nationalist and anti-EU alliances, which will pave the way for the economic weakening of Europe, and, on the other hand, he’s after increasing the security costs of Europe under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Thus we can see that there’s a full consistency between US economic and security policies.
Finally, European officials have made mistakes in their calculations and attitudes toward the US government. This big mistake could lead to the loss of the European Union and the Eurozone. Undoubtedly, people like the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron once realized their mistake will be too late…..
