When the European Commissioner of Commerce, Maros Sefcovic, and the powerful chief of cabinet of the president of the European Commission, Björn Seibert, arrived on Washington on Monday towards the United States, had to dinner the derogatory comments on Europe made by the narrowest circle of President Donald Trump in a private filter chat. “I hate having to rescue Europeans again,” Vice President JD Vance wrote in that channel of Signal. “I fully share the rejection of European gorrones. Pathetic,” replied the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
Republican Trump despises Europe. to the European Union, which says that “he has behaved badly” with the US already who has accused of “taking advantage.” But it is not the same to listen to Trump’s comments at a specific time, closely linked to the commercial issue – the US president is convinced that the commercial balance is absolutely inclined to the detriment of Washington – or to defense expenditure – the White House believes that Europe invests very little – that reading its team express its visceral rejection. And also do so in a conversation about an attack by the US army to the Hutí militia in Yemen, information that has been revealed by a journalist from The Atlantic, which was added by mistake to that channel.
“It is not surprising, but it is discouraging and a very bad sign of the times that are confirmed a world order change,” a high community source is labeled, which asks to remain anonymous to talk about a particularly sensitive issue. “It is outrageous, and more arriving from the US administration,” says another source that sees him as one more lunge from Washington to the alliance with Europe, the transatlantic bond, one of the oldest and fruitful that is now increasingly damaged.
No channels with Washington
It is also a bad sign because the European Commission (which has the commercial competitions of the club of 27 countries and 450 million inhabitants) is in negotiations to try to avoid a commercial war of unknown consequences. He does it against the clock, before the US puts new tariffs on European products in the next few days and that the EU activates theirs in retaliation. But for now nothing has resulted. “It is very frustrating, but seeing the private conversations of the Trump team shows us that, unless the president says something else at the last moment, there are no large channels with the US,” says a veteran diplomatic. In that talk through Signal, the circle closest to the president commented that some kind of remuneration should be requested to Europe for those attacks on the hutis, because, they said, they would help restore navigation into the Red Sea and that would basically benefit Europe.
“Despite the outrage and surprise of EU leaders, he did not reveal anything new,” says Alberto Alemanno, a researcher on democracy at Harvard University. “Trump has always despised the EU since his first term, and his current vice president chose the Munich Security Conference last February to clearly articulate United States antagonistic position against the EU,” he remarks.
That was, for many European leaders and analysts, an alert call, the awakening of a world in which the US is no longer only an ally, but a power that can seek to undermine the democracies of Europe. In his speech at the German Defense and Security Forum, Vance questioned European values and their democracy, and launched an ideological attack on Europe that has later impregnated other speeches and actions of the Trump administration. The White House has left out the EU of negotiations on Ukraine and threatens to withdraw the security umbrella. To this is now added another threat: that of wanting to get Greenland, an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, which Vance and his wife will visit this week without invitation.
“Seen from this perspective, the Signal case It is presented as one more confirmation that the US is no longer an ally, but an ancient ally capable and willing to challenge the EU and what it represents, ”says German. Expansionism, ”adds the expert.
