A Review of Biden’s and Trump’s Approaches to Transatlantic Diplomacy
Article by Sean Colaljo, TPT Staff Writer
America’s oldest allies have always been found in Europe. Yet Donald Trump eroded those ties so thoroughly that even in 2024, the continent’s leaders are still grappling with his legacy. President Biden, on the other hand, has made transatlanticism a foreign policy priority.
His White House has committed to continuing to fund Ukraine’s stand against Vladimir Putin and his brand of expansionist authoritarianism, to widespread European acclaim. American industry has been galvanized into building a second “arsenal of democracy” in much the same way the American home front supplied the Allies in World War II. Supporting Ukrainian democracy is supporting European democracy—Democrats and Europeans alike see that.
Yet under Trump’s direction, Republicans have stood in the way of badly needed Ukrainian aid for months, adhering to his isolationist “America First” agenda. European officials are beyond frustrated: the war is on their doorstep, not America’s, and American disinterest would leave them vulnerable to a Russian attack. German lawmaker Norbert Röttgen lamented how Europe would “have to stand up for its own security.” Similarly, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski recently vowed that obstructionist Mike Johnson, who has channeled Trump’s rhetoric into congressional inaction, would bear responsibility if Ukraine lost on the battlefield.
Biden has re-extended the hand of friendship to Europe in climate diplomacy too. Whereas Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement and made America an environmental pariah not only in Europe but around the world, Biden rejoined on day one. Biden also halted natural gas export permits for Europe in January after environmentalists and 60 European officials voiced their concerns for the environment. They argued that the continent no longer needed more gas thanks to America’s enthusiasm in filling the hole left by Russia’s refusal to export the resource. That was a crucial litmus test for NATO’s viability that Biden passed with flying colors. Now that circumstances have changed, he and Europe have joined together in refusing to use geopolitics as an excuse to ignore the climate crisis, strengthening their ties in the process.
Biden and EU Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen delivering a joint statement, Image Credit: EU Today
Transatlantic environmental progress will be destroyed, however, if Trump’s anti-climate rhetoric is allowed to become law. He regularly denounces electric vehicles and the Biden administration’s policies to popularize their use, lending credibility to anti-green politicians in Europe such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the UK’s ruling Conservative Party. That cannot come at a worse time, as the US and EU are both working to ensure that the free world, not China, owns the future of automobiles. Trump has also vowed to retract a $3 billion pledge for the Green Climate Fund announced by Vice President Harris at COP28 in December. The fund dedicates itself to encouraging the developed world to finance developing nations’ responses to climate change, which they have been disproportionately impacted by without contributing much at all to the problem. After the US, its largest contributors are primarily European, including the UK, Germany, France, and Sweden. They and others may be less willing to cooperate on the climate if they see a White House that refuses to pay its fair share.
Encouraging NATO’s European members to increase their military spending has been another focus of both presidents, although Trump has demonstrated that an iron fist is usually counterproductive. He enraged diplomats in Brussels with his demands for them to meet requirements to spend 2% of the GDP on NATO defense. That was the most tangible way in which the former president damaged transatlantic relations. Biden, on the other hand, has worked with European partners, rather than unilaterally dictating to them—that is the antithesis of diplomacy, after all. 18 allies are now meeting their targets, and those that are not currently doing so have plans in place to swiftly meet that target.
Trump has unsurprisingly continued his anti-European campaign. He recently declared that he would openly encourage Russia to attack NATO members that failed to meet the 2% target, scaring and infuriating diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic. Thanks to him, only half of Republicans see how the US benefits from its ties with Europe, compared to 80% of Democrats and 63% of independents, according to a poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
One final challenge to American and European relations has been the rise of European illiberalism, which eschews the West’s internationalism for inward nationalism and closer ties with Russia. The most visible example has been Hungary under pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who stonewalled Sweden’s accession to NATO for over two years before only recently ratifying it. Biden has largely let Hungary ostracize itself—Stockholm and Brussels are unlikely to ever forget this snub—but has also embraced the art of subtle overtures, through which diplomacy works best. For example, he excluded the country from his Summit for Democracy last year while inviting all other EU member states.
Trump, who has embraced illiberal techniques here in America, has praised populists like Orbán, calling him a “great leader” and “strong man.” Never mind the Hungarian leader’s attacks against “woke culture,” EU federalism, and what he calls “LGBTQ propaganda.” He even spoke at CPAC in 2022 and 2023, which, considering how pro-Trump the conference has become in recent years, is quite fitting. Trump has also invited chief Brexiteer and Euroskeptic Nigel Farage to campaign rallies, and he has served as an inspiration to Geert Wilders, a populist who recently triumphed in the Netherlands’ elections and has been frequently nicknamed the “Dutch Trump.” Wilders has earned notoriety across Europe for his Islamophobia, calling the Quran a “fascist book” and vowing to ban mosques and Islamic schools. Politicians like him pose a serious threat to transatlanticism, and it would be fatal for Americans to elect an enabler of unchecked populism like Trump.