"In 2017 a new American president, Donald Trump, directly called Europe’s bluff. His two immediate predecessors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama (2009–17), had both indicated a desire to withdraw from the role of policing Europe. While Bush was consumed by the Middle East, Obama ‘pivoted’ towards Asia-Pacific. Trump dismissed NATO as ‘obsolete’ and suggested Europe was now rich enough to defend itself. At a rally in December 2017 he said he had told the people of Europe ‘they’ve been delinquent. They haven’t been paying… I guess I implied you don’t pay, we’re out of there.’ He was also avowedly a friend, if not an ally, of Putin."
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Sources
Simon Jenkins, A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin (2018)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/European_Union%E2%80%93United_States_relations
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European Union–United States relations
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