In December 2025, relations between the administration of US President Donald Trump and the European Union reached a boiling point, which analysts are already calling a new “cold war.” The trigger was a $140 million fine imposed by the EU on Elon Musk’s Platform X (formerly Twitter) for violating the Digital Services Act. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg: deep disagreements over freedom of speech, the war in Ukraine, and migration policy are now officially enshrined in the new US National Security Strategy. According to Axios, Trump is positioning the EU as a “geopolitical villain,” while his vice president, Jay D. Vance, and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, are openly calling for sanctions against Brussels. European leaders, in turn, see this as a “declaration of political war.”
The conflict erupted on December 10, when Axios published an article titled “Trump’s New Cold War with Europe.” The EU’s fine on X was the catalyst: Brussels accused the platform of insufficient content moderation and violating user verification rules. In response, Vance called the fine “garbage” and a product of “European censorship,” while Rubio called it “an attack on American technology and people.” Trump, in turn, used the incident to promote his agenda: in the 2025 National Security Strategy, the EU is accused of “regulatory pressure and undermining democracy.”
This is not the first blow. Since November 2025, Trump has repeatedly criticized the EU for supporting Ukraine, demanding that Europe take “primary responsibility” for its own defense. The US strategy questions the reliability of some NATO members due to “demographic changes” (read: migration) and proclaims the end of “the perception of NATO as an ever-expanding alliance.” According to the Washington Post, the document ignores threats from Russia and China, focusing instead on Europe’s “existential crisis” — economic problems and “civilizational decline.”
These contradictions date back to Trump’s first term, but now they have been institutionalized. As the Guardian notes, Trump’s strategy is a “civilizational war” against EU values: from human rights to an independent press. NPR emphasizes that the document reinforces the US’s focus on the Western Hemisphere, leaving Europe alone with Russia.
European leaders are in shock. Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell called the strategy a “declaration of political war” and urged: “Stop pretending that Trump is not our enemy.” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz threatened sanctions against American companies in Europe, while European Council President António Costa threatened to extend the EU summit to find alternatives to the US. European politicians such as @HBrandstaetter accuse Trump of waging a “hybrid war” alongside right-wing extremists.
Experts warn that this is not just rhetoric. The New York Times sees Europe at a “strategic crossroads” — Brussels is forced to increase military spending and seek partners outside the US, possibly closer to China. According to CSIS, such disagreements weaken NATO in the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, where Moscow is already using Trump’s strategy in its propaganda.
This “new Cold War” reflects a global shift: from post-war unity to a multipolar world where the US puts “America first” and the EU struggles for its identity. The full picture will become clear at the NATO summit in 2026, but one thing is clear: transatlantic ties are fraying at the seams.