Opinion | A U.S. Betrayal Is Surreal for Europeans
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Farah Stockman
Feb. 19, 2025
Credit… Johannes Simon/Getty Images By Farah Stockman
Ms. Stockman is a member of the editorial board and the author of “American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears.” She wrote from Munich.
On Jan. 29, Bryan Lanza, a longtime adviser to President Trump, issued a stark warning to a group of German manufacturers. He told them that the president is a “sledgehammer.” You either work with him, or you get hit, according to Karl Haeusgen, president of V.D.M.A, Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, who was there.
Mr. Lanza was warning the Germans not to sell hydraulics, which can be used for hospital beds as well as missile launchers, to China. It was no small ask. Germany’s economy, already shaky without Russian gas, could suffer further if Beijing stops buying its stuff.
But it was the aggressive tone of Mr. Lanza’s remarks that stunned many in the room that day. Was this just tough love from the United States, they wondered, to prod Europeans to do more against a common threat? Or had the Americans become the threat?
It was one of a number of meetings with American officials in recent weeks that have had Europeans re-evaluating their relationship with their most important ally. Indeed, Europeans are waking up to the fact that they are entirely dependent on a foreign power that is no longer acting like itself. America, which once championed the liberal democratic world order, is now turning against it in ways that are shocking to its allies.
The Trump administration isn’t just demanding that allies pay more for their own military defense. It is also threatening to incite a trade war that could make raising money for that purpose more difficult. The administration is championing illiberal, pro-Russian political parties across Europe that could undermine the European project from within. And it’s striking a conciliatory tone toward Russia and setting up meetings about Ukraine’s fate without including Washington’s closest European allies.
It reminds me of the 1993 horror film “Body Snatchers,” when the protagonists slowly realize that the people they love have been replaced by monstrous doubles. Part of the panic comes from not knowing who can be trusted, and realizing how exposed you can be when an ally becomes an aggressor.
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