America's New Attack on Europe - Trump's Strategy Paper Is a Declaration of War Against an Entire Continent

Donald Trump's administration has published a paper that rolls across Europe like a political quake. In dry bureaucratic language, but with an ideological force rarely expressed so openly, Washington tells the European states they are facing the "stark prospect of civilizational erasure." Behind this lies not just a diagnosis, but an agenda: the United States intends, by its own account, to strengthen those parties that limit migration, emphasize national pride, and redirect Europe's societal course. Washington does not name them, but the hints are unmistakable: Reform U.K., the AfD, other right wing populist forces that have been fueling social conflict for years. In a 33 page document, the U.S. government claims that Europe is on the path to becoming "unrecognizable." And it asserts that some NATO states could become "majority non European" if action is not taken quickly.

Trump sets this tone deliberately. In his foreword, he celebrates the paper as a "road map" that should ensure that America remains "the greatest and most successful nation in human history." The fact that such a claim is now tied directly to demands to reshape European political systems makes the document an open intrusion into internal affairs. The language echoes theories about an alleged exchange of populations - ideas spread by extremists in Europe for years and that now appear in the wording of an official U.S. strategy document.

The message to Europe is unmistakable: Washington describes the EU as an entity that restricts freedom, suppresses opposition, and silences people. A government that itself defames political opponents, attacks the media, and places institutions under constant fire now declares Brussels the enemy of freedom. In the chapter "Promoting European Greatness," it states that Europe must regain its "civilizational self confidence" and free itself from "regulatory suffocation." Behind this lies a view that democratic procedures and social safety systems are not legitimate political decisions but errors to be corrected - if necessary, with external pressure. The paper even goes so far as to claim that Europe will be "unrecognizable" in twenty years and openly questions whether certain European states still see their place in the world the way those did who once founded NATO.

The strategy paper becomes especially drastic where it denies Europe the ability to defend itself or remain politically stable. The authors write that many European states are shaped by "unstable minority governments" that suppress opposition voices and that a "large majority" of the population longs for peace but cannot achieve it due to supposed political distortions. This construction - Europe as a politically powerless continent whose democratic mechanisms allegedly fail - provides the justification for the influence the paper demands in its next sentence: The United States must "cultivate resistance to Europe's current trajectory" and shape European societies toward a different political direction.

Tensions were already high. Shortly before, the EU had imposed a 140 million dollar fine on Elon Musk's company X for misleading design of its verification system. Even before the fine became public, Vice President JD Vance railed against Brussels and argued that one must "support free speech, not punish American companies over garbage." The wording fits what the strategy paper describes: Europe as an adversary, not a partner.

The paper then includes a section that alarmed officials particularly in Berlin and Paris. It claims that the Ukraine invasion has "perversely increased Germany's external dependencies," and that German chemical companies are now building "some of the largest processing plants in the world in China, using Russian gas they can no longer get at home." The message is clear: Europe is not only unable to defend itself - it also makes economic decisions Washington considers dangerous. The paper also claims that many European states are "doubling down" on their supposedly wrong course and thereby weakening their own militaries. This is not a casual accusation but an open delegitimization of democratic economic and security policy.

While Europe is sharply attacked, the U.S. administration formulates an astonishingly gentle line for other regions. In the chapter on the Middle East, it says the United States should stop "hectoring" countries like Saudi Arabia or pushing reforms on them. One should "accept the region as it is" - a sentence that reveals more about Washington's priorities than any diplomatic formula. Not a word about the murder of a journalist allegedly approved by the Saudi crown prince according to the CIA. Nothing about political prisoners, violence against women, or the dismantling of fundamental rights. The fact that the same government lectures Europe while accepting authoritarian power structures in the Middle East highlights the imbalance of this new worldview. The comparison is not accidental: European states are treated like unruly partners, Gulf monarchies like sovereign friends.

On Russia, the document bears a signature that sets off alarms in Europe. The U.S. government speaks dismissively of "European officials with unrealistic expectations for the war in Ukraine" and criticizes governments that supposedly "suppress" opposition. At the same time, the paper states that the United States must "end the perception and prevent the reality of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance" - a sentence whose structure is hardly distinguishable from the wording used by Vladimir Putin. That the same section speaks of "restoring strategic stability with Russia" while portraying Europe as culturally and politically unstable reinforces the fear that Washington intends to reorder its partnership with Europe in favor of a new balance with Moscow.

Across Europe, concerns are growing that Trump intends to elevate nationalist movements to weaken the EU and redefine the transatlantic order. Carlo Calenda, an Italian senator from the pro European camp, said openly that Trump is an "enemy of Europe" and an "enemy of democracy." Attempts to win him over diplomatically have failed. "He is a tyrant, and you cannot face a tyrant with kindness." That the paper simultaneously professes that the United States is "sentimentally bound to Europe" - especially to Great Britain and Ireland - reads like an empty formula: a polite label attached to a document that systematically dismantles Europe. Only one man applauds: Viktor Orbán. Without mentioning the strategy paper directly, he praised in a radio interview the negotiations between the United States and Russia to end the war and criticized the EU for supporting Ukraine. "The strong act, the weak talk," he said. It is the rhetorical line of a man who has been trying to divide Europe for years - and who now receives support from Washington.

The new U.S. strategy paper is far more than a diplomatic statement. It is an attack on the political identity of an entire continent. It calls into question partnerships that have built trust over decades. And it does not seek to change Europe through discussion, but through pressure. The message is: adapt - or America will build the stage for your opponents. How Europe responds will determine whether it allows itself to be steered or finds the confidence to formulate an answer worthy of this unprecedented intrusion.

Exactly this is what we have always warned about, and it is one of the reasons why we bring many of our investigations and information from America to Europe. In times like these, information is essential - reliable information, not tailored to the market. This is also why we view the situation with the AfD as dangerous: a party that in government would immediately jump to the side of Trump and Putin. A constellation that would hit hardly any other country as hard as Germany. Perhaps you now understand our struggle a little better.