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      Emerging Contours of Transatlantic Relationship under Trump Administration

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            Abstract

            With the election of US President Donald Trump, the very essence of transatlantic relations, embedded in the shared ideologies of liberalism, democracy, human rights and globalization has begun to erode. The already strained United States-Europe relationship is now at the lowest ebb under the Trump administration. This rift is visible since long and is continuously widening due to divergence of economic, security, political and environmental interests of the United States (US) and its European allies. This paper discusses the reasons for divergence between the two old partners who have traditionally identified themselves collectively as the ‘West’ and the impact it has had on their partnership. This paper examines the evolution of the US-Europe relations, crisis under Trump's Jacksonian politics leading to divergences on core issues, namely Russia as a threat and energy supplier, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), climate change and Iran. In addition, it deliberates on the future trajectory of transatlantic partnership under Trump administration and offers policy options.

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            Contributors
            Journal
            10.2307/j50009730
            polipers
            Policy Perspectives
            Pluto Journals
            1812-1829
            1812-7347
            1 January 2019
            : 16
            : 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/polipers.16.issue-1 )
            : 3-21
            Affiliations
            The author is a PhD Scholar and Lecturer at the Department of International Relations, National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
            The author is a Research Assistant and student of International Relations at the Department of International Relations, National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
            Article
            polipers.16.1.0003
            10.13169/polipers.16.1.0003
            997517e8-6338-4c54-b4c8-f32394b086a8
            © 2019, Institute of Policy Studies

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Education,Religious studies & Theology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,Economics
            Russia-Europe,Transatlantic Relations,Trump-Europe,US-NATO Relations,US-EU,EU-Iran

            Footnotes

            1. For details, Dan Roberts, Sabrina Siddiqui, Ben Jacobs, Lauren Gambino and Amanda Holpuch, “Donald Trump Wins Presidential Election, Plunging US into Uncertain Future,” Guardian, November 9, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/donald-trump-wins-us-election-news. Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and a democrat was the most popular candidate for the 2016 elections.

            2. Taesuh Cha, “The Return of Jacksonianism: The International Implications of the Trump Phenomenon,” The Washington Quarterly 39, no. 4 (2016): 83–97, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2016.1261562; and Fareed Zakaria, “Trump Defines Foreign Policy Down,” Fareedzakaria.com, April 27, 2016, https://fareedzakaria.com/columns/2016/04/28/trump-defines-foreign-policy-down. Zakaria while explaining Trump's foreign policy said that it is mainly based on Jacksonian politics, ‘Donald Trump is a Jacksonian. In his book “Special Providence,” Walter Russell Mead explains that Andrew Jackson represented a distinctly populist style of American thinking that is quite different from the country's other major ideological traditions. It is anti-immigrant and nativist, economically liberal and populist. In foreign policy, it is largely isolationist but, if and when engaged abroad, militaristic and unilateral. In trade, it is protectionist, and on all matters, deeply suspicious of international alliances and global conventions.’

            3. Hasan Dudar and Deirdre Shesgreen, “Trump’s Long List of Global Trade Deals, Agreements Exited or Renegotiated,” USA Today, November 21, 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/ll/21/donald-trump-foreign-policy-iran-nafta-russia-mexico-canada-trade/1732952002/.

            4. Ibid.

            5. Jane C. Timm, “Tracking President Trump's Flip-Flops,” NBC News, Nov. 20, 2016, https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/president-trumps-first-100-days/here-are-new-policy-stances-donald-trump-has-taken-election-n684946; Chris Riotta, “Donald Trump is Reckless, Erratic and Incompetent, According to Business Leaders around the World,” Newsweek, June 23, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-reckless-erratic-dictator-business-leaders-say-cnbc-survey-628569; “The Guardians View on The Trump Presidency: A Reckless and Undignified Spectacle,” editorial, Guardian, January 5, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/05/the-guardian-view-on-the-trump-presidency-a-reckless-and-undignified-spectacle; and “Trump Says Nato ‘No Longer Obsolete’,” BBC News, April 12, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39585029.

            6. Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Trump Warns NATO Allies to Spend More on Defense, or Else,” New York Times, July 2, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/world/europe/trump-nato.html

            7. NATO, “Collective Defence - Article 5” (Brussels: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2018), https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm.

            8. Jon Henley, “Angela Merkel: EU cannot Completely Rely on US and Britain Any More,” Guardian, May 28, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/merkel-says-eu-cannot-completely-rely-on-us-and-britain-any-more-g7-talks.

            9. Thomas Wright, A Post-American Europe and the Future of US Strategy (paper, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 2017), https://www.bosch-stiftung.de/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/2018-05/Post%20American%20Europe.pdf.

            10. Elizabeth Ross, “How the US Influenced the Creation of the EU,” Public Radio International, January 28, 2019, https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-01-28/how-us-influenced-creation-eu.

            11. Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” The National Interest, no. 16 (1989): 3–8.

            12. John S. Duffield, ‘‘NATO’s Functions after the Cold War,” Political Science Quarterly 109, no. 5 (1994-95): 763–787.

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            14. Ron Synovitz, “Explainer: Why Does the U.S. Have It Out for The International Criminal Court?” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, September 11, 2018, https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-why-does-u-s-have-it-out-for-international-criminal-court-/29484529.html.

            15. Brian Collins, “Operation Enduring Freedom and the Future of NATO,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 3, no. 2 (2002): 51–56.

            16. Gunter Burghardt, “The European Union's Transatlantic Relationship,” paper 2, Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies, Brugges, 2006), 15–19.

            17. Chris V. Thangham, “Obama in Berlin: ‘America Has no Better Partner than Europe'.” Digital Journal, July 24, 2008, http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/257804.

            18. For details, Lisa Aronsson and Molly O’ Donnell, Smart Defence and the Future of NATO: Can the Alliance Meet the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century? report (Chicago: Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 2012), https://espas.secure.europarl.europa.eu/orbis/sites/default/files/generated/document/en/Conference_Report.pdf.

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            20. Robert M. Gates, “Remarks by Secretary Gates at the Security and Defense Agenda,” (speech, Brussels, June 10, 2011), US Department of Defense, http://archive.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=4839.

            21. Greg Kennedy and Harsh V. Pant, eds., Assessing Maritime Power in the Asia-Pacific: The Impact of American Strategic Re-Balance, Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies Series (New York: Routledge, 2015).

            22. For details on Obama administration, Anna Dimitrova, “Transatlantic Relations Under Obama's Presidency: Between Dream and Reality” (paper, Centre International de Formation europeenne, Nice, 2014), https://mafiadoc.com/transatlantic-relations-under-obamas-presidency_59891e331723ddcd6988885d.html.

            23. Ibid., 19.

            24. Timothy B. Lee, “Here’s Everything We Know About PRISM to Date,” Washington Post, June 12, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/06/12/heres-everything-we-know-about-prism-to-date/?utm_term=.7fdec4e90879.

            25. Benjamin Haddad and Alina Polyakova, “Is Going It Alone the Best Way Forward for Europe? Why Strategic Autonomy Should be the Continent's Goal,” Foreign Affairs, October 17, 2018, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/2018-10-17/going-it-alone-best-way-forward-europe.

            26. Michael Clarke and Anthony Rickettes, “Donald Trump and American Foreign Policy: The Return of the Jacksonian Tradition,” Comparative Strategy 36, no. 4 (2017): 366–379, https://doi.org/10.1080/01495933.2017.1361210.

            27. Alex Ward, “Read Trump's Speech to the UN General Assembly,” Vox, September 25 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/9/25/17901082/trump-un-2018-speech-full-text.

            28. Haddad and Polyakova, “Is Going It Alone the Best Way Forward for Europe? Why Strategic Autonomy Should be the Continent's Goal.”

            29. Ben Jacobs, “Donald Trump: EU was Formed ‘to Beat the US at Making Money’,” Guardian, July 24, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/24/donald-trump-eu-was-formed-to-beat-the-us-at-making-money.

            30. Henry Mance, Shawn Donnan, and James Shotter, “Donald Trump Takes Swipe at EU as ‘Vehicle for Germany’,” Financial Times, January 15, 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/lf7c6746-db75-lle6-9d7c-bel08flcldce.

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            32. Vincent Lofaso, “The Transatlantic Divorce: A New Security Alliance?” International Policy Digest, June 6, 2017, https://intpolicydigest.org/2017/06/06/the-transatlantic-divorce-a-new-security-alliance/.

            33. Tom Batchelor, “Paris Agreement: Macron Says Climate Deal will not be Renegotiated Despite Trump's Demands,” Independent, September 19, 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/paris-agreement-trump-macron-climate-deal-renogotiated-france-says-no-a7956036.html.

            34. “Macron Hits Out at US Isolationism and Says EU Unity More Important than UK Relations Post-Brexit,” Telegraph, August 27, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/27/macron-hits-us-isolationism-says-close-eu-relationship-important/.

            35. Angelique Chrisafis, “Europe can No Longer Rely on US for Security, Says Emmanuel Macron,” Guardian, August 27, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/27/europe-can-no-longer-rely-on-us-for-security-says-emmanuel-macron.

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            37. Jon Stone, “Emmanuel Macron Calls for Creation of a ‘True European Army’ to Defend against Russia and the US,” Independent November 6, 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-european-army-france-russia-us-military-defence-eu-a8619721.html.

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            39. “With Friends Like Trump, Who Needs Enemies: EU Chief,” Dawn, May 17, 2018, https://www.dawn.com/news/1408228/with-friends-like-trump-who-needs-enemies-eu-chief.

            40. Griff Witte, Michael Birnbaum, “As Tensions with Trump Deepen, Europe Wonders if America is Lost for Good,” Washington Post, May 19, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/as-tensions-with-trump-deepen-europe-wonders-if-america-is-lost-for-good/2018/05/18/6f90c56e-587f-lle8-9889-07bccl327f4b_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8779c3320a37.

            41. “Russian Spy Poisoning: What We Know so Far,” BBC News, October 8, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43315636.

            42. Zeeshan Aleem, “Trump Wants Russia Invited Back into the G7,” Vox, June 8, 2018, https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/8/17441338/trump-russia-g7-summit.

            43. Raf Casert, “EU, US Relations Sinking Further after Divisive Trump Tour,” AP News, July 18, 2018, https://www.apnews.com/c21c88598ae34fela328625a66ef459c/EU,-US-relations-sinking-further-after-divisive-Trump-tour.

            44. “Delivery Statistics: Gas Supplies to Europe,” Gazprom Export, accessed June 26, 2019, http://www.gazpromexport.ru/en/statistics/.

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            47. “US, Canada, EU Hit Russia with Fresh Sanctions over Ukraine,” AlJazeera, March 16, 2019, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/canada-eu-hit-russia-fresh-sanctions-ukraine-190315173304135.html.

            48. “What are the Minsk Agreements?” The Economist Explains, September 14, 2016, https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2016/09/13/what-are-the-minsk-agreements.

            49. “Everything You Wanted to Know About the Minsk Peace Deal, but were Afraid to Ask,” EuroMaidan Press, accessed June 26, 2019, http://euromaidanpress.com/minsk-agreements-faq/.

            50. Patricia Zengerle, “U.S. doesn't Want to be ‘Handcuffed’ to Ukraine Agreement,” Reuters, June 14, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-diplomacy-tillerson-idUSKBN19528J.

            51. Jan Techau, “The Politics of 2 Percent: NATO and the Security Vacuum in Europe” (paper, Carnegie Europe, Brussels, 2015), https://carnegieendowment.org/files/CP_252_Techau_NATO_Final.pdf.

            52. Patrick Goodenough, “US Pays 22.1% of NATO Budget; Germany 14.7%; 13 Allies Pay Less Than 1%,” CNS News.com, March 20, 2017, https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/us-pays-2214-nato-budget-germany-1465-13-allies-pay-below-1.

            53. Gabriela Galindo, “Salvini: Italy ‘not afraid’ to Use EU Veto to Lift Russian Sanctions,” Politico, July 16, 2018, https://www.politico.eu/article/matteo-salvini-italy-not-afraid-to-use-eu-veto-to-lift-russian-sanctions-crimea-vladimir-putin/.

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            55. Ibid.

            56. Donald Trump, “Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord,” (speech, Washington, D.C., June 1, 2017), White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/.

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            58. “Trump: Climate Change Scientists have ‘Political Agenda’,” BBC News, October 15, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45859325.

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            60. IPCC, Global Warming of 1.5 °C, report (Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018), http://www.ipcc.ch/report/srl5/.

            61. Peter Teffer, “US in Denial on EU Climate Forum,” EU Observer, June 5, 2018, https://euobserver.com/environment/141984.

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            63. Paul B. Thompson, “How We Got to Now: Why the US and Europe went Different Ways on GMOs,” Conversation, November 6, 2015, https://theconversation.com/how-we-got-to-now-why-the-us-and-europe-went-different-ways-on-gmos-48709.

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            66. Zack Beauchamp, “Why Trump's Steel and Aluminum Tariffs on US Allies are so Dangerous,” Vox, May 31, 2018, https://www.vox.com/world/2018/5/31/17413172/trump-tariff-steel-aluminum-eu-canada-mexico.

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