The Financial Times reports today: "A leaked internal document from the Belgian Foreign Ministry warns that the United States under Trump is 'no longer the ally it once was,' urging a reassessment of relations with Washington. The October 2025 memo recommends maintaining contact with the Trump administration while simultaneously strengthening ties with members of the U.S. Congress, Democratic opposition figures, bipartisan state governments, and future political leaders across the party spectrum. The ministry emphasized that the document is an internal working paper, not an officially adopted government policy."
Commentary: For decades, Europe has relied on the United States for security guarantees, anchoring its strategic posture in the transatlantic alliance framework. However, Trump’s ‘America First’ approach—marked by significant policy unpredictability—has prompted European policymakers to recognize the risks of placing their strategic fate entirely in the hands of any single U.S. president. In response, European actors have adopted a dual-track strategy: sustaining engagement with the current administration while concurrently developing diversified communication channels within the United States, aiming to identify additional points of dialogue and mitigate the impact of abrupt shifts in presidential policy. Yet this approach carries inherent limitations. While Congress and state-level officials can exert influence, they lack the authority to determine overarching foreign policy directions, which remain firmly centralized in the executive branch under the constitutional powers of the presidency.
Xi Jinping's Visit to the United States
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1877221040285705/
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