The Transatlantic Crucible
Key takeaways
- GIOE is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, Academic Director of the Cambridge Security Initiative, and a former CIA analyst and operations officer.
- Why the Crisis Between Washington and Europe May Be a Blessing in Disguise
- Eighteen months into his second U.S. presidential term, it may appear that Donald Trump has permanently altered his country’s relationships with its transatlantic allies.
DAVID V. GIOE is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, Academic Director of the Cambridge Security Initiative, and a former CIA analyst and operations officer.
Why the Crisis Between Washington and Europe May Be a Blessing in Disguise
Eighteen months into his second U.S. presidential term, it may appear that Donald Trump has permanently altered his country’s relationships with its transatlantic allies. His rhetoric toward partners has been corrosive and his policies erratic; his administration’s overall approach has undermined the post–World War II settlement and the post–Cold War security architecture in ways that seemed unthinkable even during his first term. By denigrating NATO, threatening to annex its members’ territory, potentially violating international law, withdrawing defense aid for Ukraine, politicizing intelligence, and halting routine troop deployments to Poland, the second Trump administration has hemorrhaged American soft and hard power. Yet as bleak as the present state of the transatlantic alliance might look, it is also forcing a long-overdue transformation that could ultimately leave the alliance more capable and more balanced than it was before.