PARIS, France — European concerns over the stability of the postwar international order intensified this week after the presidents of France and Germany delivered unusually blunt criticism of U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, warning that long-standing global rules are eroding.
French President Emmanuel Macron told diplomats at the Élysée Palace that the United States, while still a dominant power, is increasingly distancing itself from allies and abandoning the international norms it once championed. He argued that multilateral institutions are weakening and that major powers are reverting to spheres-of-influence politics, a shift he said Europe must resist by strengthening its strategic autonomy and reducing dependence on both Washington and Beijing.
Macron’s remarks came as European Union leaders debate how to respond to recent U.S. actions while maintaining critical economic and security ties, particularly regarding Ukraine. Though he did not name specific incidents, his comments followed the U.S. raid in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, as well as renewed statements from Trump expressing interest in U.S. control of Greenland.
In Berlin, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier echoed those concerns during a speech marking his 70th birthday. He described a “breakdown of values” by the United States, calling it an “epochal rupture” that compounded the damage already done by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Steinmeier warned that weaker nations risk being left defenseless as global power politics intensify, arguing that Europe must take its own security more seriously, including militarily.
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