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Trump’s Europe-bashing starts looking less like strategy and more like a diplomatic faceplant
The White House kept pressing its warning-shot messaging at Europe on January 5, insisting the administration’s recent national security criticism was meant to “jolt” allies into line. That framing did not soften the blow. It underscored that the Trump team was openly using official U.S. power to shame long-standing partners, and the reaction from European officials was already hardening into the kind of mistrust that makes everything else—trade, security, Ukraine—more brittle.