The recent U.S. midterm elections saw a decisive defeat for Donald Trump’s Republicans, leading to a Democratic-controlled Congress that has brought relief to European leaders. Despite this shift, the article notes that Trump’s prior actions—such as a trade war, threats toward Greenland, attempts to influence Ukraine, and a war with Iran—have already strained European economies through higher fuel and food prices. It highlights the ongoing challenges Europe faces even as it watches the new U.S. administration’s approach to international policy.
Far-right populists remain insurgent and pro-EU governments are braced for Trump’s betrayal. But the midterms also showed that democracy can fight back• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here“Is Maga dead?” asked Margaret, a Guardian reader in Switzerland, in a live Q&A with our correspondents after the seismic US midterm elections. If Margaret’s query expressed a hope that the Democrats’ blue wave could transform Europe’s fortunes after two years of Maga-induced trauma, she was probably not alone.The resounding defeat for Donald Trump’s Republicans and the installation of a Democratic-controlled US Congress has been met with understandable relief in European capitals. In the short term however, the worst for Europe is not over. Trump didn’t need congressional approval, after all, to unleash a trade war on his supposed European allies, threaten to invade Greenland, try to stitch up Ukraine or go to war with Iran, an act that has inflated fuel and food prices disastrously. Continue reading...
