The release of the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Defense Strategy (NDS) at the turn of 2026 marked a critical inflection point in transatlantic relations. Together, they provided the first official codification of the second Trump administration’s strategic priorities toward Europe. The NSS goes beyond familiar U.S. demands for increased defense spending and burden sharing, adopting, in places, an openly adversarial tone toward the EU and Europe’s political direction. Its treatment of sovereignty, regulation, migration, democracy, and civilizational identity casts the EU less as a partner than as a political and economic model the U.S. seeks to reshape. The NDS reinforces this shift by signaling a more selective U.S. defense posture and greater pressure on Europe to assume more responsibility for its own security and defense.
Six months later, however, U.S. policy remains unpredictable, contradictory, and fragmented despite these strategy documents. Administration priorities, budgetary realities, congressional constraints, and ad hoc presidential decision-making often pull in different directions. Europe’s challenge is not simply a more assertive U.S., but a structurally more volatile and fragmented U.S. policymaking environment that creates uncertainty simultaneously across security, economic, and political domains.
Europe’s collective response should focus on three priorities:
- Define collective European red lines and credible response mechanisms.
- Strengthen Europe’s strategic resilience while preserving transatlantic cooperation wherever interests still align.
- Broaden European engagement across the U.S. policy landscape.
