Europe views US with ‘much less horror’ after Trump’s midterms defeat

Résumé détaillé

But experts say Washington’s shift away from Europe runs deeper than Trump and is unlikely to be reversed.

During the campaign for the midterm elections in the United States, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans spoke much about issues related to Europe.

US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Ukraine war, his approach to Greenland and his aggressive posture towards the European Union were not on the agenda.

Yet while the Democratic Party’s victory last week could produce a Congress that is friendlier towards Europe, experts do not expect major shifts in US foreign policy in some areas.

“Europeans are looking much less in horror towards the US than they have in the past two years, but they should not exaggerate the significance in terms of transatlantic relations,” said Erik Jones, director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. “The trend line has been moving in a consistent direction across administrations, and this midterm election does not change that trend.”

For decades, the transatlantic relationship was built on the assumption that Washington needed a free, prosperous and secure Europe, while European governments relied on American security guarantees.

But that consensus has gradually eroded, and it did not start with Trump. Over time, there was a loss of popular support for global engagement on both sides of the Atlantic.

The pattern began under Barack Obama, whose administration started a strategic reorientation towards Asia, analysts say, because of perceived threats to US security from the region. That has become a rare area of agreement across the political divide: Republicans and Democrats alike support Europeans taking greater responsibility for their own security.

The US president has accelerated that shift with his America First approach. He has repeatedly lashed out at NATO, threatened to seize Greenland and has shown greater respect for Russia than Ukraine, undermining European efforts to isolate and weaken Moscow.

A Democratic-controlled Congress will have more power over federal spending, legislation…

Début de l'article, extrait de Al Jazeera. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.