Dr. Miklos K. Radvanyi
For years now, the overwhelming majority of European governments have spoken as though the age of dependence on the United States of America is ending. “Strategic autonomy” has become a fashionable language in Brussels and Paris. American power has been often portrayed as excessive, destabilizing, or even unnecessary. Clearly, European countries confuse style with content. Yet, history – and geography – continue to teach a harder lesson: Europe’s prosperity and security still rest heavily on American strength.
The Russo-Ukrainian War shattered the illusion that Europe could rely on diplomacy alone to preserve peace. When Russian tanks crossed the border, it was not the European Union that provided the backbone of deterrence. It was the United States of America – American intelligence, American logistics, American weapons, and American leadership within NATO, in particular under President Trump. Europe contributed significantly, but without the White House, the Western response would have been fragmented and far weaker.
President Trump’s foreign policy has been one of the most controversial – but also one of the most consequential – reorientation of American geostrategy since the end of the Cold War. Critics often have focused on his rhetoric and unconventional style, yet beneath the turbulence is a coherent doctrine rooted in realism, deterrence, economic leverage, and the prioritization of American national interests. From this perspective, President Trump’s geopolitical doctrine represents an attempt to restore strategic clarity after years of costly interventions, and hesitant diplomacy. At the center of President Trump’s foreign policy is the conviction that peace is best preserved through overwhelming strength.
This reality extends far beyond Europe. Consider the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s vital maritime chokepoints. Roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass through that narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. When instability threatens Hormuz, Europe is not a distant observer. Europe is directly exposed.
European economies remain deeply dependent on imported energy and on the uninterrupted flow of global trade. A major disruption in Hormuz would not simply raise fuel prices in Asia or America. It would hit factories in Germany, transport networks in France, households in Italy, and industries across the continent. Inflation would surge even more. Economic growth would stall even more severely. Political instability would follow.
And who protects freedom of navigation in these waters? Once again, overwhelmingly, the U.S. Navy.
For decades, American carrier groups, submarines, intelligence assets, and military bases have guaranteed security of sea lanes that make globalization possible. Europeans benefit enormously from this system, often while underestimating the scale of the American burden. The uncomfortable truth is that Europe’s social and economic model depends on a global security architecture largely financed and maintained by the United States of America.
This is not an argument for blind loyalty to every American policy. Allies can and should disagree. Nor is it an argument that Europe should remain militarily weak. On the contrary, Europe urgently needs stronger armed forces, greater energy resilience, and more strategic seriousness.
But Europe must abandon the fantasy that American power is somehow optional to European security. Moreover, Europe must stop spreading the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” that is more destructive to the beneficial partnership than all Russian and Chinese insidious subversion activities can accomplish against both alliances as well as the internal stability of all individual Western states. This mounting hatred blinds the European states to the best interests. President Trump is the wake-up call that Europe badly needed. The liberal international order – imperfect as it is – did not emerge spontaneously. It was built and defended primarily by the United States of America after 1945. Europe flourished under this umbrella.
Today, the threats are multiplying: Russian aggression, instability in the Greater Middle East, Chinese maritime ambitions across the South China sea and beyond, cyberwarfare, terrorism, and energy insecurity. None of these challenges respect borders. None can be solved by speeches about “strategic autonomy” alone.
The Strait of Hormuz is not merely America’s problem. It is Europe’s problem too because Europe’s prosperity travels through those waters. More importantly, Iran increasingly poses a direct military threat to Europe’s democracies through subversive actions. Ukraine has never been, as many in the West still think, merely Eastern Europe’s problem. It is a test of whether force can redraw borders in the 21th century. NATO is not an outdated relic. It remains the strongest military alliance in history precisely because it binds Europe and America together.
Yet, as President Trump has made it crystal clear in his many speeches, meetings, and writings, NATO has never been a charity project. It is a partnership rooted in shared interests. America gains reliable allies, strategic depth, and economic partners. Europe gains security guarantees and access to the stabilizing power that only the United States of America can currently project on a global scale.
The lesson of our time is becoming increasingly clear: Europe does not become stronger by distancing itself from America. Europe becomes stronger when it stands beside the United States of America – and when it contributes more seriously to the common defense of the West. Be it President Trump’s tariffs against China, sanctions against Iran, and North Korea, his actions showed that his administration stopped just managing these tyrannies’ aggression ambiguously, but through direct pressure. In the Middle East, the Abraham Accord has become one of the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in the region for over a century.
Another defining feature of President Trump’s approach to international affairs is his scepticism toward nation-building and endless wars. Essentially, his foreign policy can be understood as an effort to shift America from idealism toward a more realistic and interest-driven model of international relations. In this respect, President Trump’s foreign policy is straightforward: adversaries must fear American power, allies must contribute more, and the United States of America should not be ashamed to defend its own interests. If the European states would like to come up with some new ideas regarding the revival of the Transatlantic partnership, it would be definitely welcome in Washington, D.C. In the end, whether in the plains of Ukraine or the waters of Hormuz, or in the Pacific Ocean, the security of Europe and the security of the United States of America remain inseparable.
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Note from Dr. Radvanyi: “I would like to express my appreciation to Ambassador Simonyi for his suggestion about the title and the topic of this article.”