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Europe is finding itself on the outs with Russia, China and the U.S., in what’s amounting to its very own “Mean Girls” moment.
Patricia Cohen is the global economics correspondent based in London.
If global geopolitics were played out in a high school cafeteria, Europe would be having a “Mean Girls” moment.
Once a sought-after friend and trading partner, Europe is finding itself on the outs with the world’s big powers.
Russia, the continent’s longtime supplier of oil, turned on its Western neighbors after invading Ukraine and has been provoking Europe with sabotage, drone flights and cyberattacks.
China, an important frenemy and the European Union’s second-largest trading partner for goods, has flooded the bloc’s markets with cheap goods, undermining industries in Germany, France, Italy and the rest of Europe. It has also halted or restricted the export of critical minerals, disrupting the European supply chain.
And the United States, its closest BFF, is repeatedly threatening to break up. President Trump launched a nasty trade war, made a power grab for Greenland and supported far-right parties that could destabilize governments.
Even the name calling has ramped up. Mr. Trump has slammed members of the Atlantic alliance like Germany, Britain and France as “cowards” after they put limits on aiding the American war on Iran. And he crudely mocked President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife.
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