The EU’s transatlantic strategy is broken: it courts MAGA powerbrokers and sidelines America’s opposition

Since Donald Trump’s return, Europe has consistently failed to get into the rooms where straight answers exist.

When EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič travelled to Washington in February 2025 for talks with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, and US trade representative Jamieson Greer, he left with a false sense of “positive momentum.”

When EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas flew to Washington that same month to meet with secretary of state Marco Rubio, she found the meeting cancelled.

The European Parliament sent its own delegation — foreign affairs chair David McAllister, trade chair Bernd Lange — and did the normal diplomatic rounds, meeting with the Trump administration, MAGA-aligned think tanks, and Congressional leadership.

Yet little, if any, genuine understanding emerged from these encounters. If clarity was gained in Washington, Europe never received it.