Just over a week ago, the world was in shock after seeing US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio ambushing Ukraine’s President Volodymir Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Further to that meeting, President Trump decided to suspend US military aid to Ukraine, as well as intelligence sharing. This has allowed Russia to advance within Ukrainian territory, and made the Ukrainian positions in Kursk, inside Russian territory, virtually untenable. Trump has also announced that NATO’s joint exercise scheduled in Europe after 2025 has been cancelled. Just yesterday, Elon Musk threatened to switch off the Starlink satellite system, which he considers to be the backbone of Ukraine’s defence systems.
What is the reaction of the rest of the world to these declarations and decisions? First, the US establishment is unwilling to observe the demise of the US empire in the space of a few weeks without reacting. The Wall Street Journal, a bastion of the US conservative press, has published a lettersaying: “With zero American lives lost in battle and less than $375 spent per American (based on a total of $120 billion in aid), Mr. Zelensky’s military and civilian population have helped America and its allies by destroying or disabling thousands of Russian aircraft and land-based vehicles, communication systems and other equipment. Russia’s military command structure, morale and recruiting have been degraded. American defence contractors have tested new weapons systems in wartime conditions and Ukrainian fighters have innovated in unforeseen ways. Our economy has benefitted from Americans building war material in American plants and sending them to Ukraine. Mr. Zelenskyy has thanked America many times for our support. It is now time for America to thank him.”
The traditionally closest US ally – the UK – isn’t staying still either. Several sources of UK intelligence have been publically saying that they are weary of sharing anti-Russia intelligence with the Americans, as they fear their agents may lose their cover. Additionally, the day after the Oval Office ambush, Zelenskyy was in London, where he was hugged in public by PM Keir Starmer and welcomed at Buckingham Palace by King Charles. Even the traditionally populist right-wing press has hailed Starmer’s warmth for Zelenskyy, and took aim at JD Vance who dared to speak about the UK as being among the “random countries that haven’t fought a war in 40 years”. Finally, in his speech for the Commonwealth, King Charles reminded Trump that he is the formal head of state of Canada, which Trump would like to become the 51st state. Canada itself, with its tough reaction to American tariffs, has obtained their further exemptions and delay.
But it is still in Europe where the reaction has been strongest. Poland issued a statement saying that the country pays USD 50mn a year for Starlink: if Musk switches it off, they will look for a “more reliable” provider. France is ready to substitute the Starlink system with its Eutelsat system of satellites.
In Germany, with a spectacular U-turn, future Chancellor Friedrich Merz has decided to accept the suggestions of Habeck, co-leader of the Greens, and approve two important packages with this parliament, in which the AfD and Die Linke don’t have a blocking minority. One is a EUR 500bn infrastructure investment plan over 10 years, which will allow Germany to modernise its obsolete infrastructure. The other is a constitutional modification that will allow the government to increase its deficit by up to 1% of GDP in defence per year.
At the EU level, EU Commission President Von der Leyen announced a EUR 800bn defence plan called re-Arm Europe, with a EUR 650 extra borrowing possibility (“if member states increase their defence spending by 1.5% of GDP on average, this could create fiscal space of close to €650bn over a period of four years”) and €150bn of “new joint EU borrowing that would be lent to EU governments to fund pan-European capabilities in areas such as air and missile defence, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition, drones and other needs.”
All these examples show that the world is striking back at Trump’s reckless policies and proposals.
