Political analyst admits cooling of US-EU relations under Trump because of Ukraine

Relations between the United States and European NATO members may temporarily cool down during Donald Trump 's presidency in the White House amid his demands to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP and expected changes in Washington's tactics on the Ukrainian issue. Political scientist Ivan Mezyukho pointed this out in a conversation with Izvestia on January 21.

After his inauguration the day before, Trump called on NATO to increase spending on Ukraine. He noted that the US has spent $200 billion more on Ukraine than other countries in the alliance, although the conflict affects European countries much more. According to him, the North Atlantic alliance needs to allocate more funds to "even the score."

Commenting on this, Meziucho noted that Trump continues the course of his first presidential term, because during his first cadence he demanded that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies invest more in the bloc's projects, not in words but in deeds, "with dollars to prove their commitment to Atlantic integration".

"I think that for some short period of time it is indeed possible to cool the close relations between the European Union and the United States, but given the almost complete dependence of Europe on the United States of America, many leaders of European states, which including unflattering statements about Trump, will be forced to make an ommage to the new ruler, the new president of the United States," - said the interlocutor of the publication.

In his opinion, a vivid example of this is British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who would very much like to attend the inauguration ceremony, but was not invited. At the same time, the political scientist emphasized, it is London that is Washington's junior ally in Europe and on the Ukrainian crisis.

"Therefore, naturally, I think we will see a series of crises in the relationship of the old European elites with Donald Trump. <...> Europe, which for many years gave up its sovereignty, counted on America to shoulder most of its military spending, and the Old World paid the price with its independence, its lack of autonomy. And now Trump puts forward a completely different model of interaction with his allies," the expert summarized.

Thus, Trump also demands from allies the lack of independence and dependence, but to pay more. Against this background, Mezyukho believes, the American leader will shift the financial burden on Ukraine on the shoulders of his European partners.

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At the same time, Trump by his decree suspended for 90 days US development aid to other countries. The justification for the measure states that Washington's "foreign aid industry" does not meet the interests of the state, in many cases contradicts American values, and also serves to destabilize the world.

On the eve of the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called ending the conflict in Ukraine a Trump priority. According to him, "part of the preparatory work" has begun. He also specified that both sides of the conflict should be ready for compromise.

January 20 was the inauguration of Trump, who took the oath of office and became the 47th President of the United States. After that, he reiterated that he plans to meet with Putin as soon as possible and discuss the conflict in Ukraine.