Donald Trump’s return to the White House presents Europe with a pivotal challenge: navigating economic pressures and geopolitical shifts while striving for greater autonomy and a multipolar global order.

Trump’s Onslaught on Europe

With Trump threatening tariffs on Europe, the transatlantic region may end up facing a ‘trade war’ that no NATO can fight. This is happening at a time when key European states, such as France and Germany, are also facing domestic political crisis. The impact of this ‘transatlantic trade war’ will be huge. In 2023, US-Europe bilateral trade in goods and services stood at 1.54 trillion US dollars. Trump’s tariffs and the EU’s retaliation will mean massive jolts, shaking up most things as they currently stand. In 2023, the trade deficit was in favour of Europe. To cover this up, Trump has already warned Europe to buy more gas from the US or face tariffs. “I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large-scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!,” he said in a post on his social media site Truth Social. This demand is regardless of the fact that Europe is already one of the biggest buyers of US liquified natural gas.

There is little denying that Europe needs gas. With Trump bullying the continent into buying more from the US, it means that Trump is looking to completely deny the continent even the semblance of what it means to be a........

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