Biden’s European Policy Dilemmas
Biden’s European Policy Dilemmas

Summary/Abstract: On NATO, Trump pushed a longstanding US complaint that Germany and other NATO allies do little to provide for their own defense and added unnecessary personal vitriol against Angela Merkel. This is set to change. The most destructive division within NATO is not between Trump and Merkel but between French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has created a host of foreign policy problems via its hypermilitarized foreign policy. Its clashes with Russia in Syria, the Caucasus, and Libya could bolster its position in NATO – but Ankara is also at odds with France in Libya and in the Mediterranean more generally. Though Biden has promised to be tougher on Russia, there are few new ideas in Washington about what to do.Sanctions remain popular, and could be tightened, but there is little optimism that they will induce change in Russian behavior soon. Western Europe is celebrating Trump’s defeat, but for Central and Eastern Europe, the results of the election will be less conclusive. The volatility that Trump injected into US foreign policy is gone. But the dilemmas posed by Russia and the divisions within NATO remain.

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