It is no secret that U.S. President Donald Trump has an instinctive
animus against the European Union and NATO. He supported the Brexit vote
in the United Kingdom, reportedly advised French President Emmanuel Macron that his country should leave the union too, and last week falsely claimed
that the EU was created “to take advantage of the United States.” (This
last statement raises an obvious question: Does Trump know any history
at all? The answer appears to be no.) He has long complained that NATO’s
European members aren’t paying enough for defense and has offered only
tepid support for the mutual defense clause that is at the heart of the
NATO treaty.
So, it’s not surprising that both Europeans and Americans are now looking ahead to the NATO summit in July with a certain foreboding. Coming on the heels of Trump’s petulant tantrums during and after the G-7 summit in June, and taking place just before he is scheduled to meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the summit could turn out to be the diplomatic equivalent of a 29-car pileup.
Unfortunately, Trump’s evident distaste for these institutions mostly reveals his own ignorance and lack of strategic acumen. Why? Because there is a connection between U.S. interests, its commitment to NATO, and the strength of the EU. Although a good case can be made for gradually reducing the U.S. role in Europe and letting Europeans handle their own defense, moving in that direction actually makes the EU more rather than less important, because it plays an important role in keeping Europe peaceful and prosperous. If Trump wants to do less for NATO, in short, he should be embracing the EU instead of denigrating it.
The U.S. interest in Europe is fairly straightforward. In addition to their mutually beneficial trade and investment relations, the United States has long sought to preserve an overall balance of power in Europe. Washington did not want any single country to dominate Europe, or unify it under its leadership, because a regional hegemon of this sort would be a peer competitor and might eventually try to establish a substantial security role in the Western Hemisphere and force Americans to worry more about defending their own shores. The United States intervened in World War I and World War II to prevent Germany from establishing hegemony in Europe, and it kept more than 200,000 troops in Europe during the Cold War to keep the Soviet Union from attempting the same thin
There is no potential hegemon in Europe today, however — neither Germany nor Russia has the population, economic strength, and military clout to take over the whole place — and thus there is no serious threat to the regional balance of power. Thus, the United States could (and should) reduce its military role and gradually turn European security back to the Europeans.
But the United States still has a continuing interest in peace in Europe, partly for economic reasons, but mostly so that Americans don’t have to spend much time worrying about that region and can focus on areas — most notably Asia — where the balance of power is more delicate and a potential regional hegemon, China, is apparent. For this reason, the U.S. role in Europe should be reduced gradually and in a cooperative spirit, so that NATO’s European members have time to adjust. Trump’s bull-in-a-china-shop approach to diplomacy is exactly the wrong way to proceed.
And that’s where the EU comes in. The European Union and its predecessors were not created to rip the United States off, as Trump claims, but rather to help Western Europe generate the economic strength needed to stand up to the Soviet Union and to make war between Europe’s separate states unlikely-to-unthinkable. Given that the United States still has an interest in a tranquil Europe, a strong EU would be even more valuable if the U.S. security role in Europe were to decline.
But the EU is far short of becoming a single state and probably never will. Nationalism remains a powerful force in Europe, and there are vast differences between the various members. If anything, in fact, recent trends are running the other way. At present, therefore, the EU is just united enough to help stabilize the continent but not so unified as to be able to speak with a single voice and pose a serious challenge to U.S. interests.
For this reason, Trump’s simultaneous opposition to the EU and skepticism about NATO is both short-sighted and contradictory. He seems to think getting out of NATO would save the United States lots of money, though that wouldn’t be the case if the Pentagon just decided to spend it on other missions, and that helping destroy the EU would let the United States impose one-sided “deals” on its members. The latter step is unlikely; more important, unraveling the EU would accelerate the renationalization of European foreign policy and reignite security competition there, which would in turn force the United States to pay more attention to Europe than if Europe remained loosely unified and therefore mostly tranquil.
Note EU-Digest: It has been said many times now. The EU and its member States must get off "Uncle Sam's" lap. Trump, or no Trump. The US, like just about any other country in the world, is only a reliable partner, if and when it is in their own interest. If it does not go their way, it becomes a policy of divide and conquer. Unfortunately, this has still not dawned into the heads of most European politicians, the EU Commission and the EU Parliament.
Read oreThe EU and NATO and Trump — Oh My! – Foreign Policy
So, it’s not surprising that both Europeans and Americans are now looking ahead to the NATO summit in July with a certain foreboding. Coming on the heels of Trump’s petulant tantrums during and after the G-7 summit in June, and taking place just before he is scheduled to meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the summit could turn out to be the diplomatic equivalent of a 29-car pileup.
Unfortunately, Trump’s evident distaste for these institutions mostly reveals his own ignorance and lack of strategic acumen. Why? Because there is a connection between U.S. interests, its commitment to NATO, and the strength of the EU. Although a good case can be made for gradually reducing the U.S. role in Europe and letting Europeans handle their own defense, moving in that direction actually makes the EU more rather than less important, because it plays an important role in keeping Europe peaceful and prosperous. If Trump wants to do less for NATO, in short, he should be embracing the EU instead of denigrating it.
The U.S. interest in Europe is fairly straightforward. In addition to their mutually beneficial trade and investment relations, the United States has long sought to preserve an overall balance of power in Europe. Washington did not want any single country to dominate Europe, or unify it under its leadership, because a regional hegemon of this sort would be a peer competitor and might eventually try to establish a substantial security role in the Western Hemisphere and force Americans to worry more about defending their own shores. The United States intervened in World War I and World War II to prevent Germany from establishing hegemony in Europe, and it kept more than 200,000 troops in Europe during the Cold War to keep the Soviet Union from attempting the same thin
There is no potential hegemon in Europe today, however — neither Germany nor Russia has the population, economic strength, and military clout to take over the whole place — and thus there is no serious threat to the regional balance of power. Thus, the United States could (and should) reduce its military role and gradually turn European security back to the Europeans.
But the United States still has a continuing interest in peace in Europe, partly for economic reasons, but mostly so that Americans don’t have to spend much time worrying about that region and can focus on areas — most notably Asia — where the balance of power is more delicate and a potential regional hegemon, China, is apparent. For this reason, the U.S. role in Europe should be reduced gradually and in a cooperative spirit, so that NATO’s European members have time to adjust. Trump’s bull-in-a-china-shop approach to diplomacy is exactly the wrong way to proceed.
And that’s where the EU comes in. The European Union and its predecessors were not created to rip the United States off, as Trump claims, but rather to help Western Europe generate the economic strength needed to stand up to the Soviet Union and to make war between Europe’s separate states unlikely-to-unthinkable. Given that the United States still has an interest in a tranquil Europe, a strong EU would be even more valuable if the U.S. security role in Europe were to decline.
But the EU is far short of becoming a single state and probably never will. Nationalism remains a powerful force in Europe, and there are vast differences between the various members. If anything, in fact, recent trends are running the other way. At present, therefore, the EU is just united enough to help stabilize the continent but not so unified as to be able to speak with a single voice and pose a serious challenge to U.S. interests.
For this reason, Trump’s simultaneous opposition to the EU and skepticism about NATO is both short-sighted and contradictory. He seems to think getting out of NATO would save the United States lots of money, though that wouldn’t be the case if the Pentagon just decided to spend it on other missions, and that helping destroy the EU would let the United States impose one-sided “deals” on its members. The latter step is unlikely; more important, unraveling the EU would accelerate the renationalization of European foreign policy and reignite security competition there, which would in turn force the United States to pay more attention to Europe than if Europe remained loosely unified and therefore mostly tranquil.
Note EU-Digest: It has been said many times now. The EU and its member States must get off "Uncle Sam's" lap. Trump, or no Trump. The US, like just about any other country in the world, is only a reliable partner, if and when it is in their own interest. If it does not go their way, it becomes a policy of divide and conquer. Unfortunately, this has still not dawned into the heads of most European politicians, the EU Commission and the EU Parliament.
Read oreThe EU and NATO and Trump — Oh My! – Foreign Policy
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