Europe’s Futile Struggle with Trump to Escape Isolation

The American news agency “Associated Press” writes in an analysis, referring to the efforts of US President “Donald Trump” to advance his foreign policy and diplomacy agenda in various global arenas based on centralizing his role, which as a result marginalizes European allies: “When US President Donald Trump took the stage at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt to praise the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, an agreement reached as a result of US mediation, a group of world leaders stood behind him like black-and-white actors in a political drama. This was an eloquent image.

European governments tried to play a significant role in diplomacy over the Gaza war, while the American leader, who believes in the “America First” policy, has played a central role and marginalized his long-time allies in Europe.”

While Europeans, in relation to the war in Ukraine, which is closer to their home, also tried to influence and shape Trump’s response to Russia, which also had mixed results.

“Lindsay Newman”, a geopolitical risk expert and a columnist for GZERO Media, says: “Can Europe influence Trump? I think the short answer is no. The policy and positions of the US government on various issues of the world, including Ukraine, Israel and the relationship with Europe, are primarily defined by the president and his entourage.”

Newman has stated that what she calls “Trump’s ambitious global agenda” shows that the “America First” approach does not include a limited and isolationist foreign policy, as some had imagined.

This expert believes: “He wants to rebuild the world according to his own image.”

Europe’s Futile Struggle to Escape Being Marginalized in the Show of Peacemaking October 13, 2025; Gathering of Donald Trump and other world leaders to take a group photo in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Meanwhile, during Trump’s second term, Europeans were trying to maintain and strengthen the flow of military aid to Ukraine in the war with Russia, while their efforts were in conflict with Trump’s desire to end this war, even at the cost of Ukraine giving up its territories.

Trump finally gave in to months of lobbying by Kyiv and its European allies and bipartisan pressures in Washington a few days ago and imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas industries.

According to the American media, “But apparently Trump imposed these sanctions more because of his displeasure with Putin for not being willing to have direct negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky than to reassure European countries, which, according to Trump, are acting in contradiction to their requests from the US to sanction Moscow by continuing to buy oil and energy from Russia.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s displeasure at not being able to end the war in Ukraine is not hidden. While he claimed during the 2024 presidential election campaign that he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours on the first day of his new administration.

Since starting his second term, Trump has experienced a heated argument with Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House once, and held a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska once, and has sent his officials and envoys to Moscow many times, but has not yet been able to bring the parties to the negotiating table.

Trump also stated at a meeting with Zelensky and senior European leaders at the White House, which was held a few days after his meeting with Putin in Alaska, that the US is willing to support European efforts to monitor the security of any peace agreement implemented in Ukraine.

Recently, however, in an effort to show some kind of political tightrope walking in relation to the Ukrainian crisis, the US president supported granting US “Tomahawk” long-range missiles to Ukraine for use in attacks deep into Russian territory, but after that, he also supported Moscow’s demand that Ukraine give up the entire Donbas region in the east of its country.

These developments have occurred while the US president and his team have argued that the war in Ukraine, which is the largest war on European soil since World War II, is not very important to the United States, and have asked Europeans to take more responsibility for ending this war.

European leaders welcomed the new sanctions against the Russian oil and gas sector, while French President Emmanuel Macron called it a “turning point.”

According to the Associated Press, one of the issues that has weakened the role of Europeans in relation to global issues and has marginalized them in the face of the United States is internal differences within Europe, including over the war in Ukraine.

The American media writes in this regard: “The European Union, which consists of 27 countries, is trying to finalize a plan to use the blocked assets of Russia as collateral for granting a huge loan to Ukraine. Belgium, where a large part of this money is kept, is looking for guarantees so that other countries will also bear the burden of any economic retaliation from Russia. Hungarian Prime Minister “Viktor Orban”, who has close friendly relations with Moscow, opposes the European Union’s support for Kyiv.”

Despite this, “Gregoire Roos”, director of the Europe and Russia program at the Chatham House think tank on international affairs, said that Europe has made progress in creating a coherent European position in relation to Trump.

He said: “I don’t see absolute agreement among them, but I haven’t seen a significant collapse of unity among them either. And as far as Europe is concerned, this is a victory.”

Europe’s Futile Struggle to Escape Being Marginalized in the Show of Peacemaking The British Prime Minister, کر Starmer, welcoming the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in London on Friday, October 24. According to the Associated Press, however, Europe’s influence on the issue of the Gaza war has been even weaker compared to the Ukrainian crisis.

Ross points out: “Let’s face the fact that Europe has no real influence on this process” even though Europe will ultimately be asked to provide both the money and the expertise needed for the final reconstruction of Gaza.

According to this American news agency, although the European Union has been the largest provider of aid to Palestinians in the world, it has little influence on Israel, part of the reason is that European countries disagree on how to deal with the Gaza war.

Trump said at the October 13 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that he believes the fragile ceasefire in Gaza is “a unique opportunity to put aside old hostilities and bitter hatreds.” He and his team greatly praised Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia for their role, but he was silent about Europe’s role in this process.

“Mike Huckabee”, the US government’s ambassador to Israel, even called a senior British government official “delusional” in a post on the social network “X” for commenting that London had played an important role in helping to reach the Gaza agreement.

According to the Associated Press, one of the reasons for Washington’s anger towards Europeans on the issue of the Gaza war is the decision of England and France in September to join the group of countries that recognized Palestine as a country.

The establishment of a ceasefire has at least temporarily reduced the volume of European criticism of Israel for its actions against the Palestinians; criticisms that often also meant implicit criticism of the continued US support for Israel. “Jonat Shanzer”, a former terrorism finance analyst at the US Treasury Department, said that the space created by the ceasefire could help improve US-Europe relations.

Shanzer, who is the executive director of the “Foundation for Defense of Democracies”, a hardline think tank in Washington, also said: “Trump’s ceasefire has turned the sharp criticism of Europeans into a whisper. This has enabled all parties to move forward in a more constructive way.”

In contrast, Newman said that Trump seems more interested in building relationships with West Asian countries than with Europe.

He pointed out: “Successive governments in the US had been trying to shift their attention away from West Asia, but now it almost seems that the current government wants to make this region the focus of its attention again.”