It resembled a medieval court, with Trump cast as king and Europe reduced to grovelling courtier. [ Keir Starmer’s ‘see no evil’ Donald Trump strategy risks making him weakerOpens in new window ]The English language abounds with words to describe Europe’s Trump policy. One month after Fifa boss Gianni Infantino added to the Trump adulation cake by inventing a Fifa peace prize and awarding it to the US president, Trump invaded and captured the leader of a foreign country. Trump is breaking the 80-year-old transatlantic alliance and it is naive to think Washington’s antagonism toward Europe will disappear with Trump’s departure. Europe needs to toughen up and stop curtsying to an increasingly erratic US president.

Source: The Irish Times January 09, 2026 15:01 UTC