#transatlantic-relations

#transatlantic-relations

"is not possible at this stage."

After acknowledging that maintaining this link currently requires great patience and diplomatic courage, in an implicit reference to the unpredictable and arbitrary behavior of U.S. President Donald Trump, Felipe VI stressed that it is an indispensable framework [] that emerged from the ashes of the Second World War and has fostered the flourishing of democracies, stability, growth, and the development of multilateralism.

As I listened, it struck me that, while Europe's role in the Middle East has been severely damaged by its immoral stance on the Gaza war and its self-inflicted exclusion from Iran nuclear diplomacy, Europeans still have a role to play when it comes to its neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean.

The era of harmony in transatlantic relations is over. For Donald Trump's United States, Europe with its project of values and defense of the rules-based multilateral order is an adversary. One that must be steered back onto the illiberal and reactionary path dictated by Trumpism and followed by its European allies: the ultra-right-wing, national-populist, and Eurosceptic Trojan Horses who seek to undermine the European Union from within.

Optimists latch on to the hope that the stability we have lost can be restored post-Trump. Having spent the past few days in Washington, I doubt it. Even in recent history, things were not quite so bad for the transatlantic relationship. The current tensions make the first Trump administration look like a walk in the park for Europeans. It is one thing to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump did in his first term.

President Trump expressed optimism about the new agreement, stating, "I think it's going to be great for both parties. It's a good deal for everybody—a giant deal with lots of countries." He reassured that the deal averts a potential trade war, which would have significant implications for global markets.

"It reminds us that it is possible to reckon with the past without erasing it," he told DW. TON's performance in this place sends a strong message..."

The US is still a great democracy, but a much lesser one than it was four months ago, raising questions about law versus contempt for it.