With friends like these: What's behind JD Vance's anti-European agenda?

Vance seems to have taken the lead from Trump when it comes to going hard at Europe.

PUBLISHED MAR 30, 2025

Initial signs suggest that Vance could well emerge as the top Republican presidential candidate in 2028 and that should concern Europe.

SHUBHAM GHOSH

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Foreign Affairs Correspondednt

Washington D.C.: As President Donald Trump sets about upending the established world order, his deputy James David Vance has emerged as a key part in fulfiling that mission. While the mercurial commander-in-chief’s unorthodox style of running affairs both at home and overseas will come as no surprise, the vice president’s strong views, especially on foreign affairs, have startled several observers.

The former Ohio senator has echoed the president’s seeming isolationism. But what makes his stance more alarming to globalists is his strong disapproval of Europe. It’s been a little over two months since the Trump-Vance administration took over and already the vice-president has been taking potshots at Europe.

Recently, Vance’s distaste for Europe was let out into open when he was noted in the Signal leaks stating that he hated “bailing out Europe again” by launching military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen to protect shipping lanes in the Red Sea. He claimed attacking the Houthis was doing Europe a favor and could spike oil prices and defeat the broader foreign policy goals of the current US administration.

Rasmussen said Denmark remains a close US ally but objected to the manner of Vance’s criticism. — Vance’s distaste for Europe was let out into open when he was noted in the Signal leaks stating that he hated “bailing out Europe again”

The group chat, that was released by 'The Atlantic' after the outlet's editor-in-chief was accidentaly added to the chat, saw Vance share his “loathing of European freeloading” and called it “PATHETIC” [caps in the originl].

In February, Vance slammed European democracies at the Munich Security Conference where he accused them of retreating from their values and overlooking the concerns of their voters on migration and free speech. The 40-year-old even said that the continent’s greatest threat emanated not from Russia or China, but “from within”.

Another instance where the US vice-president took on Europe was during his trip to Greenland this week when he accused Denmark, which partially controls the island in the Arctic, of leaving Greenland unguarded against alleged incursions by Moscow and Beijing. He called the people of Greenland “rational and good” and said it was necessary to “cut a deal, Donald Trump style”.

Vance has also criticized major European powers such as Germany, calling its energy policy “idiotic” and the UK as an “Islamist country”. He also accused the European Union of imposing liberal imperialistic views on the rest of Europe.

It was later clarified that Vance fully backed Trump’s decision but wanted to ensure the president was properly briefed. — Vance seems to have taken the lead from Trump when it comes to going hard at European and in particular NATO

Of course, who can forget Vance's rant at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in February and the VP also said in a Fox News interview that an American economic pact with Ukraine was a better option than the East European nation getting support from 20,000 troops from “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in three-four decades".

Vance seems to have taken the lead from Trump when it comes to going hard at European and in particular NATO. The two leaders’ belief systems on Europe are similar, but while Trump’s position is more transactional and assesses the ‘money worth’ part, Vance seems to be more ideologically opposed to the idea of helping Europe, something the US has done as a consistent post-World War II and Cold War-era policy, starting with the Truman Doctrine in 1947, and the Marshall Plan (1948) and the founding of NATO (founded in 1949).

While the vice president said he doesn't want to bail out Europe, something that the US has done over the decades, he has also praised far-right political forces that have come up on the continent recently, implying that he is against the liberal European order. In February, for instance, he met the leader of Germany’s far-right AfD after endorsing the party as a political partner, riling Berlin.

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He also, like POTUS, praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and even suggested borrowing ideas from the latter’s social policy. In September last year, he called the far-right PM an inspiration while speaking on a right-wing podcast.

In his address at the Munich conference, the Vance expressed his dismay over the cancellation of Romania’s presidential elections. He slammed the decision by the country’s constitutional court in February after the ultra-nationalist pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu won the initial round of polling in November 2024. He said the decision was taken “flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors”.

It's early days yet, but initial signs suggest that Vance could well emerge as the top Republican presidential candidate in 2028 and that should concern Europe. Such an eventuality would see Europe need to develop a 'Vance strategy', even though they haven’t quite one to manage Trump yet.

Also, Europe will have to gear up to defend itself from major threats from countries like Russia or China. The shadow of the Cold War has receded and seemingly so is the US. A new global reality is set to dawn soon. Is Europe ready for the change?