Europe looks for leverage
Europe may have a way to get Donald Trump’s attention, according to Finland’s president Alexander Stubb: offer help on Iran, but only if Washington does more for Ukraine.
Stubb, who is also a golf partner of the U.S. president, said it was a “really good idea” to try to bargain with Trump. The White House, he said, wants Europe to help it open the Strait of Hormuz, and that gives European leaders some room to negotiate.
The basic logic is not subtle, which may be why it keeps coming back. If Trump wants cooperation on one security problem, European capitals can try to tie that to another one they care about much more, namely Ukraine.
A stronger Europe, by necessity
Stubb’s broader argument is that Trump’s return to power is forcing European countries to take their own security more seriously, and to do it together. As Trump tears up the old world order, he says Europe should move closer on defense and trade.
He also has a blunt view of Brexit. In his telling, the U.K. leaving the EU was “like sawing off your leg for no reason.”
Stubb went further and predicted that the British will eventually rejoin the bloc. In his view, the pressures now facing Europe are making that kind of deeper integration more likely, not less. When Washington becomes unpredictable, Brussels suddenly starts looking less like a committee meeting and more like a survival strategy.
