[Hoover] After the recent G-7 meeting, some European nations such as France and Germany expressed anger that their views were given short shrift by Donald Trump‐displaying fits of pique memorialized in a now infamous photo of standing G-7 leaders who were leaning into a surrounded and sitting Trump. "International cooperation," huffed an unidentified senior French official, "cannot depend on being angry and on sound bites. Let's be serious." The former British ambassador to the U.S., Peter Westmacott, sniffed, "Trump is readier to give a pass to countries that pose a real threat to Western values and security than to America’s traditional allies. If there is a ’method to the madness,’ to use the words of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, it is currently well hidden."
Yet in current foreign policy journals, a constant theme is European leaders who lament that Europe does not get its due on the world stage. Why would that be?
After all, if "Europe" is defined by the membership of the 28-member European Union, then it should easily be the world’s superpower. The European project now has an aggregate population (512 million) that dwarfs that of the United States (326 million). Even its GDP ($20 trillion) is often calibrated as roughly equivalent to or even larger than America’s ($19 trillion). |