‘A warning not an insult’: US doubles down on criticism of Europe

Donald Trump’s administration has doubled down on its recent criticism of Europe, saying last month’s US national security strategy was an attempt to “jolt” an ally back to economic life.

The document was widely condemned in Europe as representing a seismic shift in the 70-year transatlantic alliance with its dark references to a purported threat of “civilisational erasure” with migration and censorship creating “strife”, “cratering birthrates” and “loss of national identities”.

Its threat to interfere in European politics and oppose what it termed as “elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe” was condemned as unacceptable by the president of the European Council of leaders, António Costa.

On Monday, Jacob Helberg, the US under secretary of state for economic affairs, told reporters the strategy was in fact a response to what Washington saw as an economic crisis and over-regulation.

“I know that the national security strategy, the language around Europe and around civilisational erasure drew a lot of attention in Europe,” he said.

“What I’d like to highlight is that that language is a warning. It’s not an insult … because there is a growing sense of concern and alarm in the United States about the fact that Europe’s economic, relative economic decline as a share of the global GDP is a crisis.

“There is a degree of alarm in Washington about the need for serious reforms in order to jolt the European economy back to life. We think it’s possible with the right reforms.”

The changes the US was seeking, Helberg said, centred on the opportunity to “drastically simplify and reduce the regulatory burden in Europe”, which he claimed would free up talent and capital on the European continent and attract US investment.

The US has repeatedly threatened not to lift 50% steel tariffs on the EU if the bloc does not roll back on tech legislation hitting its billionaires including Elon Musk.

Helberg said the bloc was falling way behind other leading economies such as the US and Washington desired a strong Europe to maintain the “historic 70-year plus of a transatlantic alliance”.

Countries such as Italy and Germany are experiencing modest GDP growth. Germany recorded no growth in the third quarter of 2025, while it was projected to grow 1.3% in 2026 and 1.4% in 2027.

Overall the bloc’s own estimates project growth of 1.4% for 2025 and 1.5% in 2027.

By comparison the US economy rose at an annualised rate of 4.3% in the third quarter of 2025, rebounding after a contraction in the first three months of the year amid fears over the impact of Trump’s tariff strategy.