{"id":60970,"date":"2026-05-07T13:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/60970\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:25:14","slug":"europe-misread-trump-how-the-west-failed-to-anticipate-us-foreign-policy-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/60970\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe misread Trump – How the West failed to anticipate US foreign policy shifts\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global media outlets continue to highlight remarks made by Finnish President Alexander Stubb in an interview <\/a>with Helsingin Sanomat. This is hardly surprising: today, the Finnish leader is among the few Western politicians attempting to analyse global developments with a broader perspective, rather than strictly through the left-liberal lens so strongly promoted by Brussels. At the same time, some aspects of Stubb\u2019s recent comments raise legitimate questions about how well Europe as a whole actually understood the electoral platform of the 47th U.S. President, Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is far from an abstract question. The Finnish president pointed directly to the transformation of U.S. foreign policy, noting that Washington\u2019s values and interests have undergone a significant recalibration and are now \u201cincreasingly centered on economic priorities.\u201d He also stressed that the \u201cuse of force\u201d has taken on a new character, one that in many cases \u201crelies far less on international institutions and the views of allies.\u201d Such, Alexander Stubb concluded, is the emerging reality of contemporary geopolitics.<\/p>\n

And it is precisely this reality for which European leaders proved unprepared when confronted with the steps taken in recent months by the occupant of the White House. In acknowledging the situation now unfolding, they are effectively admitting that they failed to pay serious attention to the electoral platform of Donald Trump \u2014 especially given that it largely reflected the broader position of the Republican Party itself. Had European policymakers examined its core principles more carefully, many of Trump\u2019s actions would hardly have seemed unexpected.<\/p>\n

It is enough to recall several points from the platform that the American president pledged to implement <\/a>during the Republican Party\u2019s 2024 election campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

By emphasising the extent to which America\u2019s identity and way of life were under threat, Donald Trump revived the idea of a return to the \u201cAmerican spirit,\u201d which, in his view, would lead the United States toward a \u201cbrighter future\u201d \u2014 above all by making America a great power once again. Central to this vision was the need to \u201cunleash American energy,\u201d a step that, according to Trump, would enable the country to build \u201cthe Greatest Economy in History,\u201d revive its defence-industrial base, and reestablish the United States as the world\u2019s leading manufacturing superpower. Such measures, it was argued, would make America \u201cEnergy Independent, and even Dominant again.\u201d<\/p>\n

From this emerged the renewed emphasis on the slogan that became a cornerstone of Trump\u2019s political doctrine \u2014 \u201cPeace through Strength.\u201d In his view, this approach would put an end to global chaos, including by turning the United States into the world\u2019s leading producer of oil and natural gas through the removal of restrictions on domestic energy production and the rollback of the \u201cGreen New Deal.\u201d The result, as envisioned by the platform\u2019s authors, would be the relocation of critical supply chains to the United States, strengthening both national security and the country\u2019s economic power, thereby paving the way for America\u2019s revival. Within this broader framework, the Republican platform also underscored the importance of measures that aim to \u201crevoke China’s Most Favored Nation status.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is precisely in this context that the logic behind the policy of \u201cPeace through Strength\u201d becomes clear. The concept envisaged a series of key measures aimed at rebuilding the American military and strengthening alliances designed to counter Beijing, while simultaneously advancing projects such as the \u201cIron Dome\u201d missile defence system and promoting American values that, according to the platform\u2019s vision, would contribute to the revival of the U.S. defence-industrial base.<\/p>\n

As the document further specified, the United States would also guarantee \u201ca safe and prosperous future for all.\u201d In this context, Washington\u2019s foreign policy would be grounded first and foremost in national interests, with the country\u2019s security ensured by armed forces envisioned as \u201cthe most modern, lethal and powerful Force in the World.\u201d In line with this approach, the platform placed particular emphasis on support for Israel and on efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

As was stated, \u201cwe will rebuild our Alliance Network in the Region to ensure a future of Peace, Stability, and Prosperity.\u201d In a similar vein, the platform emphasised defending the interests of \u201cStrong, Sovereign, and Independent Nations in the Indo-Pacific,\u201d \u2014 countries regarded in practice as key U.S. allies.<\/p>\n

Thus, if one examines today\u2019s geopolitical landscape through the prism of Donald Trump\u2019s electoral platform, it is difficult to identify any major deviation in U.S. foreign policy from the course that had originally been proclaimed. For that reason, the observations made by Alexander Stubb should hardly be perceived as something shocking or unexpected.<\/p>\n

A number of serious analysts point out that the accusations frequently directed at Trump \u2014 both domestically and internationally \u2014 ranging from \u201cobsession\u201d to \u201cdiplomatic unprofessionalism,\u201d do not, in reality, withstand close scrutiny. In their view, the actions of the 47th president of the United States appear carefully calibrated and fully consistent with the promises laid out during his election campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Of course, such expert assessments may be open to debate. Yet one fact remains difficult to dispute: in the run-up to his expected talks this month with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Donald Trump is clearly seeking to shape conditions that would produce outcomes favourable to the United States \u2014 particularly in the strategically important sphere of global transport and logistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The views expressed by guest columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Global media outlets continue to highlight remarks made by Finnish President Alexander Stubb in an interview with Helsingin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[360,2626,2416,2631,2627,2630,2625,2629,2628,2624],"class_list":{"0":"post-60970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alexander-stubb","8":"tag-alexander-stubb","9":"tag-analysis-of-azerbaijan","10":"tag-azerbaijan","11":"tag-baku","12":"tag-important-news-of-azerbaijan","13":"tag-international-experts","14":"tag-interviews","15":"tag-interviews-with-azerbaijani-analysts","16":"tag-news-from-baku","17":"tag-news-of-azerbaijan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116533521845847366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}