‘Cultivate resistance’: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe’s far right | US foreign policy

Donald Trump’s administration has said Europe will face “civilisational erasure” over the next two decades as a result of immigration and EU integration, and argued in a policy document that the US must “build resilience” to “Europe’s current trajectory” on the continent.

Billed as “a road map to ensure that America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth.” US National Security Strategy It clearly reveals Washington’s support for Europe’s nationalist far-right parties.

The document, which also includes a foreword signed by Trump, states that Europe is in economic decline, but that its “real problems are even deeper”, including “the EU’s activities that undermine political freedom and sovereignty, immigration policies that are transforming the continent, censorship of freedom of expression and suppression of political dissent… and the loss of national identities.”

Trump’s 33-page explanation of his “America First” worldview appears to embrace the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory; he says that many countries are at risk of becoming “majority non-European” and that Europe faces “the real and distinct possibility of civilizational extinction”. He adds: “If current trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less.”

U.S. policies should therefore include “developing resistance to Europe’s current course within European countries,” while also having Europe “assume primary responsibility for its own defense” and “opening European markets to U.S. goods and services.”

Responding to the strategy document on Friday, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said the United States remained a vital ally on security but that “issues of freedom of expression or the organization of our free societies” did not fall into that category.

“We think that in the future we will be able to discuss and debate these issues completely on our own and not need outside advice,” he said.

The policy document, released by the White House late Thursday, underscores the Trump administration’s clear alignment with Europe’s far-right nationalist parties, whose policies focus on attacking the EU’s alleged overreach and excessive non-EU immigration.

In language that will seem extraordinary to close allies, he says that the United States “must defend genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and the unapologetic celebration of the individual character and history of European nations,” adding that Washington “encourages its political allies in Europe to support a revival of this spirit.”

The document states that “the growing influence of patriotic European parties causes great optimism” as far-right parties in government support right-wing coalitions or lead in the polls in some EU member states.

The Trump administration has repeatedly sought closer ties with Europe’s nationalist parties, including Germany’s far-right Alternatif für Deutschland. In September, a senior figure from the AfD party visited the White House to meet with senior officials.

On immigration, the strategy document appears to support the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims that the ethnic white European population is being deliberately replaced by people of different races. The report states that it is “extremely plausible” that “within a few decades at the latest” some European NATO members “will become a non-European majority”.

Arguing that the continent’s lack of reassurance is evident in its relations with Russia, he argues that Europe must “remain European, regain its civilizational self-confidence and abandon its failed focus on regulatory strangulation.”

The document accuses Europeans of showing weakness as Trump seeks to bring an end to the Ukraine war that would make it easier for Russia to gain territory. Despite a “significant hard power advantage,” many on the continent “view Russia as an existential threat,” the report says.

The report argues that “negotiating an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine is a core interest of the United States” but that Washington “finds itself at odds with European officials who have unrealistic expectations about the war, many of whom are perched on unstable minority governments that trample fundamental principles of democracy to suppress dissent.”

He claims that a “vast majority of Europeans” want peace in Ukraine, but that this “has not translated into policy, largely because these governments have subverted democratic processes.”

The release of the document came hours after French President Emmanuel Macron warned his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States “could betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees.”

The emphasis of the US text echoes JD Vance’s brutal ideological attack on Europe at this year’s Munich Security Conference; Here the US vice president accused EU leaders of stifling free speech, failing to stop illegal immigration and evading voters’ true beliefs.

The document recognizes that Europe remains “strategically and culturally vital” to the United States and that transatlantic trade is a pillar of the global economy and U.S. prosperity. He also says the United States “needs a strong Europe that can help us compete successfully and work in harmony with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe.”

He adds that Washington wants to “work with compatible countries that want to regain their former greatness.”

Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the US Senate foreign relations committee, said: “This plan and the administration’s approach are full of contradictions. President Trump rightly wants our European allies to step up their own defenses, but he is undermining their ability to do so by actively supporting far-right, pro-Russian political parties.”

“This strategy, which draws an equivalence between our European allies and the killers in the Kremlin, at least explains why President Trump has been so inept at ending the war in Ukraine. The strategy claims to embrace a realistic worldview, but it fundamentally ignores the threat posed by Russia and China.”