Europe prepares to stand alone as Trump turns on Ukraine

Support for old military alliances is wavering in the US under Donald Trump. Europe’s leaders are rushing to fill the void, reports Simon Wilson

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Hosts European Leaders to Plan Next Steps on Ukraine
(Image credit: Neil Hall/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Until about two weeks ago, “the idea that Europe would no longer be able to rely on America’s military might for its defence was unthinkable”, says Emma Duncan in The Times. “Now it feels inevitable.” Following the angry scenes in the Oval Office on 28 February – which saw the putative leaders of the free world berating the exhausted leader of a European democracy invaded by its imperialist neighbour – all bets are off.

What once felt like Donald Trump’s naive appeasement of the Kremlin now has the stench of active support for it. On 3 March, Trump confirmed a pause on US military aid to Ukraine, and Europe faced up to a dramatic weakening of the transatlantic military alliance.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Simon Wilson’s first career was in book publishing, as an economics editor at Routledge, and as a publisher of non-fiction at Random House, specialising in popular business and management books. While there, he published Customers.com, a bestselling classic of the early days of e-commerce, and The Money or Your Life: Reuniting Work and Joy, an inspirational book that helped inspire its publisher towards a post-corporate, portfolio life.   

Since 2001, he has been a writer for MoneyWeek, a financial copywriter, and a long-time contributing editor at The Week. Simon also works as an actor and corporate trainer; current and past clients include investment banks, the Bank of England, the UK government, several Magic Circle law firms and all of the Big Four accountancy firms. He has a degree in languages (German and Spanish) and social and political sciences from the University of Cambridge.