The recently released US National Security Strategy underscores the Trump administration’s prioritization of negotiating a swift end to hostilities in Ukraine while simultaneously championing a controversial alignment with Europe’s far-right parties. With regard to Ukraine, the paper asserts that promoting direct peace negotiations is a “vital US interest.” This is a telling indication of the administration’s broader geopolitical ambitions.
In a striking assertion, the strategy warns that Europe faces “the real and stark prospect of civilisational erasure.” In sum, European countries need to increase their pushback against the perilous course in which the continent is headed. This trajectory is increasingly alarming not just from an immigration perspective, but with regard to political liberty and national identities.
The National Security Strategy goes on to assert that if current trends continue, Europe will be “unrecognisable in 20 years or less.” This scary forecast is related to the deeply racist and widely condemned “great replacement” conspiracy theory. It sounds like some European NATO members may very well become “majority non-European” in a couple decades. These kinds of statements should make us worry about what this narrative could mean for European societies and their increasingly diverse populations.
The paper goes beyond mere institutional considerations to argue for a greater spirit and unity among European political partners. It asserts that Europe must reclaim its “civilisational self-confidence” while working to “regain its civilisational self-confidence and abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.” This type of rhetoric should sound familiar—the same ideas have been advanced by the far right all over the continent, from Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The strategy’s release shows that Washington will continue to hold the hand of its European allies as they accept their primary responsibility for their own defense. Meanwhile, the US is trying to shore up relationships with other like-minded countries. This project is part of the Creating a Strong Europe special initiative. Yet the document points to that very urgency to argue that European markets must be opened to US goods and services. It portrays this shift as a key part of building partnerships abroad.
The strategy also overtly works to the benefit of Europe’s far-right parties. Though largely symbolic, this endorsement indicates a dangerous alignment with nationalist movements that seek to remake both domestic and foreign policy directions. This support reinforces the administration’s existing ties to nationalist groups, as demonstrated by the alignment with JD Vance’s critique of Europe during this year’s Munich Security Conference.
“Activities of the EU that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition … and loss of national identities” – Document from Trump’s administration
This whitewash is indicative of a larger trend within US foreign policy, where economic interests are being inextricably linked to a rising, white nationalist ideologies. The US National Security Strategy supports this impulse by championing a vision of Europe with secure borders and mono-ethnic polities. This inevitably begs big questions about the state of future transatlantic relations.
The warnings about Europe’s changing demographics and cultural landscape have sparked debates about identity, freedom of expression, and political sovereignty. It’s not just politicians, but scholars as well that are sounding the alarm. They reflect on the challenges that these reactionary views pose to democracy and pluralism in European societies.
“Questions of freedom of expression or the organisation of our free societies” – Johann Wadephul