Europe, explained.
US Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, on 26 March 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Traditionally staunch US allies worry at a transatlantic break-down with Ukraine a further casualty.
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JD Vance lays bare Europe scepticism ahead of Greenland tripJD Vance lays bare Europe scepticism ahead of Greenland trip
For years, Europe’s mainstream political elites have cast Donald Trump as the top problem from the United States. This week, Vice President JD Vance is close to overtaking his boss.
Vance and his wife Usha will travel to Greenland on Friday amid continuous threats by the Trump administration to take over the energy-rich island under Danish sovereignty. Both Denmark’s and Greenland’s governments initially slammed the Vances’ visit (JD Vance added himself to the list of travellers on Wednesday) and said they had not been invited for any official programs. The trip, though scaled back to include only a visit to a US military base on the island, will probably see a further unprecedented rift between two NATO allies in looming quarrels over territories.
Greenland, as it turns out, is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Vance’s deep animosity towards Europe was on full display in a chain of Signal chats, texted by top Trump administration officials, just ahead of US military strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels earlier this month. According to The Atlantic, whose editor-in-chief was inadvertently added to the group chat by US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Vance was sceptical of the strikes on the grounds that the maritime route benefits European more than American interests.
“I think we are making a mistake,” Vance messaged shortly before the strikes began. “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does … I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.”
As if his stance on Europe wasn't clear enough, Vance added: “I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
Vance was sceptical of the strikes on the ground that the maritime route benefits European more than American interests.
In a bid to reassure Vance – while carrying on with the military action – US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth described Europe’s actions as “free-loading” in the chat, calling the continent “PATHETIC” (all caps), a word that’s made headlines around the world since the leak.
In public, European officials played nice with their assertive American counterparts. UK Defence Secretary John Healey, for instance, said Hegseth’s “absolutely got a case”.
In private, however, some of the traditionally staunchest US allies in Europe – including Britain, Poland, the Nordic and Baltic countries – are anxious for two main reasons. First, whether anti-Europe voices like Vance’s will gain an upper hand in future. There’s little secret that Trump himself was the living embodiment of anti-EU rhetoric. He said the union – set up after the Second World War in a bid to avoid a repeat of such calamitous events – was “formed in order to screw the United States”. But they were also reassured by the moderating voices of the likes of US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, as shown in the chats. The problem: Waltz, who created the chat group, has his future in question. They’ll also be watching Vance’s appearance in Greenland very closely.
Second, Europe is increasingly isolated from high-level talks surrounding a Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire, conducted by the United States in the Middle East. EU officials are especially concerned about Russia’s focus on getting the United States to remove some of the sanctions imposed by the West – including those initiated by the European Union. This week, Washington committed to help seek the lifting of sanctions on Russian agriculture and fertiliser exports. The Kremlin said the agreements on halting Black Sea attacks would be conditional upon the restoration of Russian banks to international financial systems.
With Trump keen to reach some sort of a deal with Russia to end the war, Europe wants to ensure there’ll be a long-term economic cost to the Kremlin – but that is getting harder and harder to achieve by the day, especially if Vance’s voices get more dominant in the White House.
About the author
Stuart Lau
Stuart Lau is a Brussels-based journalist specialising in geopolitics, NATO and Indo-Pacific issues.
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