US President Donald Trump delivered one of his sharpest attacks on America’s closest allies, accusing European leaders of being weak and saying their countries are decaying amid migration pressures and the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to Politico in a wide-ranging interview published on Tuesday, Trump suggested Europe was losing its footing and said US alliances would depend on whether leaders were willing to change course.
“I think they’re weak,” Trump said. “I think they don’t know what to do. What they’re doing with immigration is a disaster.” He added that many European governments were so focused on political correctness that they were unable to take decisive action. “Europe, they want to be politically correct, and it makes them weak,” he said.
The comments deepen an already growing rift between Washington and Europe days after the administration signaled that the United States should no longer guarantee Europe’s security. Trump warned that uncontrolled migration had left several European nations on the brink. “If that keeps going the way it’s going many of those countries will not be viable countries any longer.”
On Ukraine, Trump again questioned President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s strategy and urged him to compromise in US-backed ceasefire talks. He claimed Zelenskyy had not read the latest American proposal and needed to get on the ball. He argued that Russia held the advantage on the battlefield. “They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger,” he said. “At some point, size will win.”
Trump accused Kyiv of stalling democratic processes by postponing elections. “They talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” he said.
European leaders, who met Zelensky in London on Monday to reaffirm support for Ukraine, have not publicly responded to Trump’s remarks, but his framing is likely to trigger alarm across European capitals already uneasy with the administration’s national security strategy, which warns of civilisational erasure in Europe.
In the interview, Trump also railed against migration in major European cities, singling out London and Paris. He called London Mayor Sadiq Khan “a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor,” adding, “London’s a different place I hate to see it happen.”
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