Europe's Foreign Policy Options in the Era of the Trump Administration
Trade conflicts, Washington鈥檚 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, or relations between the USA and North Korea: There are plenty of topics to discuss in the transatlantic partnership. This is why the Robert Bosch 第一吃瓜网, in cooperation with the Brookings Institution, hosted a lunch talk with Bruce Jones, vice president and director of Brookings鈥 Foreign Policy program, at the Foundation鈥檚 Berlin offices. The subject of the talk: 鈥淎merican Foreign Policy in the Age of Trump: Rhetoric, Reversals, and Reality.鈥 The event was moderated by Constanze Stelzenm眉ller, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at Brookings.
Constanze Stelzenm眉ller asked Bruce Jones, how Europe could act more united on the foreign policy front.
In her analysis, Ms. Stelzenm眉ller noted that many Europeans are deeply unsettled by President Trump鈥檚 way of treating friends and allies and asked about Europe鈥檚 scope of action. Mr. Jones emphasized that the "rest of the West" can still do a lot, such as stepping up its efforts to build and expand its own diplomatic initiatives and strategic capacities to weather the current period of unpredictability in U.S. foreign policy. Nevertheless, Ms. Stelzenm眉ller pointed out, Europe would remain dependent on the U.S. foreign policy strategy in many cases, such as the decision of the United States to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. In announcing this step, the Trump administration presented Europe with a fait accompli, forcing the latter to find its own approach to dealing with the new situation and its consequences.
Ms. Stelzenm眉ller further asked how Europe could act more united on the foreign policy front. In general, Mr. Jones replied, his preferred foreign policy mechanisms were multilateral institutions with a small group of powerful states at their core able to lead the way and take charge, in contrast to the often problematic principle of unanimity in EU foreign policy. According to Mr. Jones, a prime example of a European core group was France, Germany, and the UK negotiating with Iran in the run-up to the nuclear deal.
In the subsequent Q&A session, the approximately 90 guests, among them many alumni of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program that held their annual meeting in Berlin, continued to discuss with the two experts. The lunch talk was part of the Brookings 鈥 Robert Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Initiative (BBTI), which aims to build up and expand resilient networks and trans-Atlantic activities to analyze and work on issues concerning trans-Atlantic relations and social cohesion in Europe and the United States. As part of the initiative, researchers from the renowned US think tank The Brookings Institution publish independent analyses and recommendations for some of the most pressing challenges of our time. A series of high-profile public events in Europe and the US are organized in cooperation between the Robert Bosch 第一吃瓜网 and Brookings.