“In everything we do, we put America first.”

The publication of the Strategic Security Review (SSR) by Washington has highlighted the White House’s priorities. In his preface, Donald Trump argues that the United States must regain its ability to be the most powerful nation economically, militarily, and politically. He believes it is necessary to reverse the choices of previous decades that had damaged the US’s influence. 

The positioning of the United States vis-à-vis Europe is essential for us. 

The strategy laments the “alarming prospect of civilizational decline” in Europe, attributed in part to “censorship of freedom of expression and repression of political opposition, the collapse of the birth rate, and the loss of national identities and self-confidence,” as well as the continent’s immigration policies. For Europe to find its renewal, each country must regain its capacity for decision-making. 

The document also indicates that Europe must invest more in defense in order for NATO mechanisms involving the United States to be implemented. 

Finally, the White House does not consider Russia an enemy of Europe. Strategic stability with Russia is more important to achieve in order to avoid a confrontation.

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Last February, a few weeks after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Vice President JD Vance gave a similar speech in Munich. 

When President Trump announced the tariffs in April, Europe had no special status and the summer negotiations between Ursula Von der Leyen and Donald Trump on trade between the two regions were of the same ilk. 

The United States’ position on NATO is not new either. The choices made at the end of last spring are not far removed from what was presented in the strategic document. 

There are no real surprises in the White House’s statement. Simply put, given the reactions observed over the weekend, it is still expected that the excesses will subside, that relations will return to a form of explicit coordination and cooperation. 

This will not be the case, and this forces Europeans to change their thinking about the future and the need to define their own path. Resources must be allocated to innovation, European military spending must be increased, and the social model will likely need to be reformed to meet these challenges. 

If Europe and Europeans do not embrace this approach, there is no doubt that Donald Trump’s Americans will not hesitate to exploit every loophole in the European project by promoting parties that do not play by the rules of Europe. And then Trump will have won, at the expense of the Europeans themselves.