*Originally published in 2025 and preserved as part of our archive project.Get E-International Relations delivered directly to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support our work.

Across Europe, right-wing leaders are borrowing from Donald Trump’s playbook, with slogans like “Poland First,” “Make Romania Great Again,” and “Make Albania Great.”  What began as a domestic political trend in the United States has evolved into a transnational movement among right-wing forces. In Washington, current and former key figures in Trump administration openly backed like-minded candidates abroad, including Poland and Albania. In Europe, Romanian far-right opposition party leader George Simion endorsed a Polish nationalist presidential candidate, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signaled his backing for Simion himself. “My country first” has become a standard rallying cry of an emerging alliance. But the rise of what might be called a “nationalist international” raises important questions: What, if anything, unites these movements across borders? And can politics radically and exclusively root in national primacy ever be meaningfully transnational?

A closer look at the policy platforms among Europe’s radical right-wing parties reveals a fragmented reality. While many share similar ideologies, such as anti-globalism, anti-elitism, and hostility to supranational institutions, deep divisions persist when it comes to national interests, both domestically and between states.

Looking back to early 2025, the return of Trump to the White House in 2025 was welcomed with fanfare by many of Europe’s political right. In February 2025, the far-right group Patriots for Europe (PfE) convened its inaugural summit in Madrid. Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally expressed the gathering as a “renaissance.” Orbán was blunter: “An era has ended. We were heretics yesterday, but today we are the mainstream.” Despite disruptive trade and foreign........

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