JEF Finland demands that the EU recognise, more clearly than it does now, the authoritarian trajectory of the United States, which threatens both its own citizens and its long-standing allies. By deepening cooperation among themselves, Europeans must show that they will not bow to the threats of the Trump administration, but instead act as an active player in world politics. For Europe’s global leadership to succeed, it requires close federal development.
Europe’s transatlantic relations are in crisis. A traditionally trusted ally has swapped cooperation for threats, and multilateralism for nationalism. For the goals of the Trump administration, a united Europe declared openly as such is a threat. From the perspective of the current US administration, the ideal is a Europe that is an ever more fragmented collection of nation-states, since it is easier for a great power to pressure individual states than a union standing as a united front. The United States’ 2025 national security strategy also expressed concern about internal developments within Europe. Indeed, US leadership has voiced its support especially for far-right, Eurosceptic parties that have called into question the principles of democracy and the rule of law. At the same time, Russia is not regarded as a security threat to the United States, but rather as a potential partner.
One of the most extreme examples of US conduct is its violations of international law. According to UN assessments, the strikes carried out in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean against alleged smuggling boats have been disproportionate. The operation carried out in Venezuela to arrest dictator Maduro shows that the United States acts as the world’s police officer only when doing so serves its own interests. Trump should not be rewarded for peace, but instead condemned, along with his cabinet, for numerous violations of international law.
What has damaged Europe’s trust in the United States the most is the threat to seize control of Greenland. Although Trump appeared to back down from this goal at the Davos economic forum in January 2026, the possibility of the situation escalating cannot be ruled out entirely. Greenlanders themselves must decide Greenland’s future. Europe, and the Nordic countries in particular, must stand with Greenland in a situation where the United States invents security threats serving its own interests in order to pressure its allies. Greenland is an obsession for Trump, one for which there is only marginal support to actually seize. Security interests can be advanced through NATO and diplomacy, but Trump has instead chosen intimidation.
Europe and Trump’s United States do not defend the same values. Whereas the EU strives through its actions to advance international cooperation, democracy and human rights, the Trump administration has withdrawn from international agreements and institutions, become increasingly authoritarian, and broadly violated the rights of citizens both at home and abroad. Vice President Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2025 showed just how hostile the president and his cabinet are toward the values the EU represents. It is telling that Europe was accused of curbing freedom of speech, at the same time as books have been banned in schools across numerous states and the social media posts of newcomers are being scrutinised. Under the immigration agency ICE, the human rights of both residents and citizens of the country are being violated on a continuous basis, in ways that have no place in a state governed by the rule of law.
Europe as a whole must wake up to the change taking place in the United States. The United States remains an important NATO ally, but an increasingly unreliable one under Trump. European defence cooperation and the European defence industry must be expanded in pursuit of military autonomy. In the economy, the EU must continue on a path of forging new trade agreements with international partners, thereby advancing global free trade. The Union must continue developing the single market in a direction that enables it to compete on a global level.
International cooperation is now more important than ever. European countries must promote the reform of the UN and uphold international agreements and institutions. At the UN level, the key reforms concern reassessing the permanent members of the Security Council and changing its decision-making. Solving the climate crisis in particular, as a global emergency, requires the kind of multilateralism that the United States, Russia and China are increasingly testing. To defend the international system and its agreements, the EU should take on stronger leadership. To pursue these goals, however, the EU must become ever more united: it must integrate more deeply and expand to become larger. To fill the global power vacuum, the EU must develop into a democratic federation, not a United States of Europe.
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Pieta Päivänen
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