Macron’s Trump Rebuke: Europe’s Patience Wears Thin

Months of insults, mockery, and military aggression from the U.S. President appear to have pushed Europe to its limits, with leaders now openly moving against the administration. Since the U.S. and Israel began their war against Iran, European countries have condemned the President’s “war of choice” and refused to assist, while France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria have all closed or partially closed their airspace to American military aircraft.

Europe is moving against Trump – and there’s no going back

French President Emmanuel Macron, usually tactful in dealing with the U.S. President, lashed out after derogatory remarks about his relationship with his wife, Brigitte. Trump, at a private lunch on Wednesday, imitated a French accent, saying: “I call up France, Macron – whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw.”

Trump’s comments referred to a video from last May showing Brigitte Macron appearing to shove her husband.

Macron said Trump’s remarks were “neither elegant nor up to standard” and “don’t deserve a response.” He added, “You want to be serious, you don’t say every day the opposite of what you said the day before.”

Macron also criticised Trump’s approach to the war, stating, “This is not a show. We are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women.” He suggested Trump ought to reduce his daily commentary on its progress, saying, “And maybe you shouldn’t be speaking every day. You should just let things quieten down.”

Macron’s stand followed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s call on the global community not to “play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions” by engaging in the war, calling it a “violation of international law” and an “unjustified and dangerous military intervention.” Spain was the first European nation to publicly refuse the U.S. access to its airbases, prompting a threat from the U.S. to cut off trade.

Officials no longer speak of the U.S. as an ally, experts say. Sébastien Maillard, Associate Fellow at Chatham House, noted, “I hear language I used to hear about China being used towards the US. People saying Europe needs to ‘de-risk’, calling them a ‘systemic rival’. That’s official diplomatic language used about China.” He added, “European leaders feel more and more comfortable moving against Trump because there’s no moving back to the relationship there was before.”

The current attitude stems from a series of anti-European policies, insults from the administration, and threats to interfere with politics in Europe, including threats to Greenland. This has highlighted the need for Europe to take a stand.

“When you’re touching on political home territory there is really now a pressing need to get bolder. You’re talking about your own sovereignty and your own democracy – it’s not just a matter of tariffs and steel and aluminium,” said Maillard.

“Trump went too far and crossed all the red lines. He went to the heart of Europe’s interests.”

Trump’s contempt for America’s traditional allies has backfired, experts say. European and Asian nations have refused to help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz, pointing out that his war is a “war of choice” on which none of them were consulted.

Dr. David Andersen, associate professor in US politics at Durham University, said President Trump’s attempts to dominate the world now appear to be pushing the United States to the fringes of world politics, where other countries and regions are no longer looking to the US for leadership, and now see it as a disruptive and malignant influence. He added, “This is remaking the international order in ways that are difficult to predict.”

Andersen noted the rapid decline in the relationship, stating, “It is somewhat impressive that President Trump has managed to exhaust nearly 75 years of goodwill built up between the US and Europe, but it seems that he has.”

Standing up to Trump is also a political win for politicians on the continent. A recent poll suggested that almost a third of voters across Europe’s six largest countries now see the U.S. as a threat, leaving politicians who had been close to Trump looking vulnerable.

This includes Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who recently lost a referendum to reform her country’s judicial system. Some analysts suggest the vote was as much a popularity contest as a decision on the issues at hand.

Maillard said, “Even Meloni had to be careful because some see her closeness with Trump, at a moment when the war in Iran is widely unpopular, and say she’s too close to Trump.”

Jim Moran, Associate Senior Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies and former EU ambassador, said, “Getting too close to Trump is now seen as an electoral liability in many EU countries [as well as in the UK].”

Trump’s attitude has expedited Europe’s moves to build links with other regions. Moran pointed to the growing number of trade deals the EU is forging with countries alienated by the administration, including agreements with Mercosur and Australia, which had been blocked for years.

However, Europe will remain dependent on the U.S. for the foreseeable future, relying on it for security, intelligence, energy, and technology. Maillard said this is unlikely to change for at least a decade, due to Ukraine and Europe’s continued reliance on the U.S. for defence.

The U.S. has been the backbone of the NATO military alliance since its founding, and the threat of U.S. military intervention has deterred aggression against its members for more than 75 years. Repeated threats to withdraw from NATO imperil the security of its members.

On Wednesday, Trump repeated his threats to withdraw from NATO after his appeals to European allies to join the war in Iran went unanswered.

Philip Bednarczyk, Director of the German Marshall Fund’s Warsaw Office, does not believe the current situation spells the end for NATO, but said, “Europe is starting to question its bullet-proof nature.” He added, “Nato is still the backbone of European defence, but there’s a shyness there.”

There are still divisions within Europe regarding the best way to deal with the U.S. Right-wing governments, like that of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, which maintains close ties with Russia and has been a thorn in Brussels’ side, have been singled out for favour by the Trump administration.

Dr. Daniel S Hamilton, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, said, “Responses to Trump vary greatly. A focus on Trump distracts from the fact that there is no European strategy toward Iran, the Middle East, China, Russia or other major issues. European responses to Trump will remain fragmented, and Trump will exploit those differences – as will [Vladimir] Putin and Xi [Jinping] – by playing the Europeans off against each other. It’s easy to do.”

Bednarczyk said neither faction seems to truly want to dissolve the relationship, stating, “They’re bickering and blaring at each other but neither seems to want to. Maybe that’s a good thing. The tough part is how to see past this.”