Beware the Folly of Pride: Europe, Trump and the Enduring Need for the Transatlantic Alliance

This article examines the early months of the Trump presidency as seen from Europe, focusing particularly on the new president’s attitudes to NATO and the European integration. However, instead of delving exclusively on President Trump’s difficult personality, as many European commentators are wont to do, the article also poses questions as to Europe’s own responsibility for taking the transatlantic relationship to its current low, and what actions Europeans must take if the current problems are not to doom the longer-term health of the transatlantic alliance. Ironically, this will, to some extent, mean complying with some of the demands for greater military spending made by the Americans – but complying will also, in turn, help make Europe less vulnerable to the whims of the American president.