The election of Donald Trump as US President most European leaders were in agreement to the restless – there are many who openly and secretly trust in the victory of their opponent. However, it is clear that in Europe there are also those for whom the American election records have become a true saint.
RBC-Ukraine recognizes who can be considered Trump's friends in Europe, and who can be considered his true enemies.
ZMIST
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Trump Friends
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Trump's Enemies
After winning the presidential elections in the United States with Donald Trump, they are trying to establish connections between most of the current politicians from the rest of the world. Europe is not excluded, the most important region for Ukraine among others. Most European leaders – Emmanuel Macron, Pedro Sanchez, and Ulf Kristersson – are still trying to work together with Trump. At the same time, Europe has obvious friends of the elected US President with whom he has important contacts. And there are also obvious dangers that difficult things loom with the American – for various reasons.
Trump's friends
Most of Trump's friends in Europe may be more closely aligned with him in international politics and economics, but there are also other nuances.
Prime Minister of Ugorsk region Viktor Orban established ties with Trump even before the hour of his first presidency in 2017-2021. However, the intensity of their activity was low, and Europe was definitely not a top priority for Trump.
In 2024, the situation has changed. Orban began to renew contacts with his wife long before the presidential elections, since Trump’s victory was far from obvious. De facto, we have become united with the leaders of the EU countries, who have made a direct and affirmative bet on the victory of the republican. Judging by his comments, Trump values this fact. Orban’s efforts to bring the war against Ukraine to an end are even more important to Orban. Beginning with heavy visits to Kiev, Moscow, Beijing and Trump's residence in Florida, and continuing phone calls to Trump and Putin. Currently, the rogue status of the European Union is further reducing Orban's shares in the battle with Trump.
The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, has also known Trump for a long time, ever since she was out of order. Meloni has attended several conferences of the American conservative movement, and Trump's great chief strategist Steve Bannon was the main speaker at the conference of Meloni's party “Fratelli d'Italia” in 2018. The two politicians met in Paris on the 7th anniversary of the opening of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. This sustrich became the first thing after Trump turned to the great politician.
“I've had a lot of trouble with her (Melonie, – ed.). She's a good fit under pressure, I'll tell you. She's a miracle,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post, after returning from Paris.
Upon his replacement by Orban, Meloni has a tight working relationship with the European bureaucracy in Brussels and leaves one of the largest countries of the European Union. All this adds points to the alliance with Trump.
Like Orban, the leader of the opposition party Reform UK in Great Britain, Nigel Farage, bet on supporting Trump long before the victory of the rest. This anti-system British politician has rejected a number of political projects. Zokrema, the “Independence Party of the Received Kingdom”, played an important role in the fact that the British voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. Farage has lost Great Britain's most important critic of European integration. His party consistently placed high in the elections to the European Parliament, and in Britain itself, Farage is dreaming of losing his life to parliament as a member of his new party “Reform UK”.
Like Melonia and Orban, Farage has long known Trump. During the US election campaign, he came and openly campaigned for the elected US President. Contacts of both politicians are only diminishing after Trump’s victory. It looks like Farage is playing an increasingly larger role in the affairs of Great Britain and the United States. Due to the support from the side of the United States and the low political failures of the official order, Farage’s party has become the leader in ratings. According to the Daily Mail, Trump views Farage as the next Prime Minister of Great Britain. Moreover, according to British media, Trump's close ally, multi-billionaire Elon Musk, may donate $100 million. on your party.
Trump's enemies
Trump's relations with the European institutions are complicated in Brussels, first of all, through systemic tensions between the United States and the European Union. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, separates the entire European bureaucracy, so all the negativity of Trump is focused on it, too. During Trump's first presidency, she was the Secretary of Defense of Germany and there was little conflict with the United States – Trump insisted that the European members of NATO increased spending on defense. Natomist Nіmechchina was hoping for its uniqueness.
At the current stage, the main problem foods are traded between the US and the EU. Trump plans to increase tariffs on imports from the European Union, which will hit the EU economy. The head of the European Commission is trying to improve the dialogue with Trump, preparing low-profile proposals, such as purchasing additional gas from the United States to replace Russian gas. However, if you want to spread such “carrots” with Trump, open the food for now.
British Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to power just a few months before Trump and has already begun to take hundreds of dollars from him. Starmer, long before the US elections, placed a bet on Trump's superwoman Kamala Harris and the program. Representatives of the Labor Party privately traveled to the United States to campaign for Harris as volunteers, and Starmer himself knew “nothing like that” from anyone.
Starmer’s party members lived out harsh epithets like Trump: “blasphemy”, “sacrifice of the Nazis” and the nickname “tyrant of the devil”. There are not so many systemic differences between Great Britain and the United States: bilateral trade is well balanced, and Great Britain also spends a lot of money on defense (low defense budgets are one of Trump’s claims before European NATO members). At the same time, Trump’s particular hostility towards Starmer could seriously cool the spirits of both countries.
So far, the dignified Prime Minister of Germany, Olaf Scholz, has had an uneasy century with Trump since 2017. When Trump first became President of the United States, Scholz took over as Germany's Minister of Finance and gained an increase in German defense funds. Trump's plans to introduce new tariffs on European imports will pay first for everything in Germany. This creates an additional point of tension between Washington and Berlin. At the same time, Germany's governing coalition has collapsed, pre-line elections will be expected, and Scholz will spend the election with high confidence, so the problems between the United States and Germany will have to resolve elsewhere Bundeschancellor.
When writing the material, the publications of the New York Post, Daily Mail, The Spectator, Bloomberg were used.