What are the consequences of Trump’s foreign policy on European integration? By Mayssa

During his election campaign, Trump promised to radically reshape United States foreign policy with drastic consequences for Americans and the whole world. What is Donald Trump’s foreign policy exactly, and what are its consequences on the process of European integration?

President Trump’s worldview goes against the traditional American objectives as regards the USA’s foreign policy (those espoused since the Second World War). The United States has become, apparently, more inward-looking and isolationist. “America first will be the overriding theme of my administration” President Trump has said on numerous occasions… Trump wants to promote his country’s economic interests even if that means compromising geopolitical stability. Thomas Wright, a Brookings Institution scholar, has written that Trump’s beliefs include: “opposition to America’s alliance relationships; opposition to free trade; and support for authoritarianism”.

The United States has withdrawn from the multilateral Paris accords to reduce global warming (agreed on during the COP21). In his speeches, Trump has defended many other policy ideas that would diminish America’s role in the world: reducing American commitment to security alliances like NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization); more countries should be allowed nuclear weapons in order to protect themselves without Washington’s help; Russia should be an ally (though most American politicians see Russia as a threat following its meddling in the American presidential elections); build a border wall to prevent illegal migration from Mexico, etc.

Trump lacks diplomatic experience and his “policies” are ideologically-driven; he makes a decision and will not consider alternatives. The world is confused: does the USA have a coherent foreign policy? What will Trump do next?

European integration is a process. It concerns the harmonization of rules between nation states. The member states have common EU institutions and a common set of European-wide laws. The integration process started in the 1950s with the European Coal and Steel Community. A few years later the European Economic Community was set up and in 1992 the European Union was launched. There were six founding members (France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). Today, the EU has 28 members. The EU is a regional trading block and political community.

Donald Tusk, the European Council President, wrote that the first weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency contributed to a “highly unpredictable” outlook for the Union, adding  “change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy”.

The United States is Europe’s most important trade and investment partner. Trump’s aggressive protectionist stance, which focuses on pulling out of existing trade agreements and tariffs on countries such as Mexico and China, as well as his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, indicates that he will not push for expanded trade deals. One victim of the current anti-trade and anti-globalization mood (seen not just in the US, but also in Europe) will be the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which the US and EU have been negotiating since 2013.

Multilateral economic agreements and military alliances like NATO exist for good reasons. Trump putting “American first” into practice will probably increase division in the world (not necessarily to the advantage of the USA) and Europe will become militarily weaker because of reduced US involvement in NATO and therefore even more politically divided. However, Trump’s aggressive attitude towards G7 partners could result in the opposite: EU members finally “doing it for themselves”, i.e. finding alternative economic partners and agreeing on a common foreign and security policy that works…

Webography:

> Article from THE HILL: US-European relations are in rough place, but it's not all Trump's fault
> Article from THE HILL: Do America and Europe have as strong a relationship as we think?
> Article from BROOKINGS (September 2000): Europe: Rebalancing the U.S.-European Relationship
> Article from WP: Trump may be doing the European Union and NATO a big favor
> Article from Slate: The EU Is Holding Together but Only With the Weakest Glue
> Article from About Hungary: A new chapter in Hungary-US political relations