EU’s Transition From The Transatlantic

According to the Transatlantic charter, the transatlantic relationship was based on common history, shared values, and common interest. It sounds good, but is this the real case? Well, that is questionable. The reality gives a different picture. They first established a relationship based on common interest, shared interest, and mutual interest. Later after the cold war, the common interest faded away. Only mutual interest and shared interest were there. After the “war on terror,” shared interest also faded away. Right now, it rests only based on mutual interest. Shortly, it is expected that even the mutual interest can become subjective because of the EU’s transition towards the east. Especially during the Trump presidency, his America first policy drifted apart and made transatlantic relations irreparable. When a relationship is built just on the lines of interest without trust, then it is natural for the relationship to fail because interests are dynamic; they either end or change. This is what happened in the TransAtlantic relations.

In the second half of the twentieth century, after the second world war came to an end, the idea of Eurocentrism finally came to an end. A new world order with two contradicting ideologies came into existence. When two incompatible ideas, encircling Europe from both sides, the Europeans were in the position to choose the best out of the worst. The western European countries began to witness the spread of authoritarian communism on their eastern borders. From the west, the Americans are expanding with the liberal democracy, so obviously, they chose the American alliance, and hence the Transatlantic partnership was established on the grounds of common interest. To further attract the Europeans and bring them under the influence of America, the Marshall plan was designed to give financial assistance to European countries as the American’s knew that the European countries are in dire need of funds. The marshall aid was not just given for the reconstruction of Europe but also to spend on American goods, creating a complex interconnected economy. Even today, despite all the tussle, economic interdependence is the bond holding the relationship. Hence the Marshall plan helped in the functional integration of the Transatlantic countries on the grounds of shared interest and mutual interest; these interests further bolstered NATO.

The EU, with the Transatlantic help partnership, was growing, developing, and integrating within Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean with the US. Nevertheless, this is not the full picture of their relationship. The smooth integration rested only on the economy. The so-called shared values between the sides have always been a point of divergence than convergence. Throughout the cold war starting from the Greece issue to the Gulf war, America always tried to pressurize the western

European alliance to take part in global issues that favor the naked American self-interest. This has many times put the EU at risk economically and politically. France has always been the country that has stood against the US interest. France under various leadership starting from De Gaulle, has highlighted the risk of EU dependence on the US and initiated various means starting from the Fouchet plan to the EC common market. France had played a significant role; it can be said that France wanted the European integration not only for unified development but also to increase the bargaining power with America and come out of their influence. Despite all these resentments, the EU stood with the Americans throughout the cold war, with ups and downs, but their economic interconnectedness held them together.

After the cold war, the new world emerged, it can be said as a Unipolar US hegemonic world. The European at the beginning welcomed the new world order. The TransAtlantic relations reached the high point when the Transatlantic declaration was signed. NATO helped in the smooth transition of the European integration and in dealing with the eastern question, especially during the Yugoslavia war. Along with this, the EU actively cooperated with the US after 9/11. All these developments prospered, although there is no common interest as it ended with the cold war. Again America’s self- interest created a rift in the transatlantic relations on the Bush “war on terror,” which not only strained the relation between the US and EU but also within the EU because of Tony Blair. Robert Kagan defined the transatlantic relations as “It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world on major strategic and international questions today, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus: They agree on little and understand one another less and less.”

Tony Blair and Bush initiated the war without the resolution of the UN and consensus from the EU. The war on terror has left a permanent mark on the Transatlantic partnership. Since then, the notion of shared interest also ended. The only bond that was continued was the mutual interest on the lines of economic and security relations. The economic ties prospered the US and European companies investing more in each other’s economies than the rest of the world combined. Many times, the American and European companies played a significant role in solving political deadlocks.

Now since all the interest faded away and the only interest that was left was the mutual interest. Unfortunately, it also began to cause problems. Obama tried very hard to re-establish the partnership based on mutual respect and shared interest through his internationalist policy. Obama spoke of addressing core issues such as nuclear proliferation, global warming, counter-terrorism, and economics. They were very successful in counter-terrorism. However, even then, he failed to

maintain the mutual interest. The Obama presidency’s foreign policy was more concentrated on the Middle East, Asia, and eastern Europe. He confirmed it ! American foreign policy has moved steadily from its Cold War focus on Europe to a more global perspective.” The biggest mistake he made was leaving the EU alone in Libya affairs. This is not the primary problem, the real trouble came in with economic relations. Mutual interest that was holding the relations has begun to cause issues.

First, the rise in public debt skyrocketed on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to the budget cuts from both sides, especially on defence. This created a deadlock. Obama wanted the EU to share the burden. However, the EU could not share the burden as they were deeply engaged in handling the Eurozone crisis in an economic slowdown. The second issue came in with the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership. The US, as usual, had hidden self-interest. The US had a huge trade deficit with the EU, which stands around 128 billion in goods and services. Through the TTIP, America tried to bridge this deficit. Some of the clauses in the agreement were not in favor of EU principles. The plan was designed to put forwards the corporates giants at the high tables, which meant the US will take the upper hand with the help of corporates, It is not a treaty that is designed to help a small business or, indeed, people and the public good”` A massive Anti-TTIP campaign, mainly in German, emerged, and American sentients once again came into the minds of European people. And the agreement was put to hold. Even without this agreement, the EU and US economic relations are so deep and extensive US foreign direct investment (FDI) in the EU totaling $3.2 trillion and outflows of FDI from the EU to the US standing at $2.3 trillion in 2016. Total US investment in the EU is three times higher than in Asia. The US and EU economies together account for approximately half of global GDP and nearly a third of world trade flows.

During the Obama presidency, the TTIP Agreement has caused economic tension between the two sides and was waiting for the spark to ignite the rift. Trump came in with a strong and hard America First policy at the right time to ignite that spark. The biggest concern for Trump is the trade deficit with almost all the countries around the world. He blamed his predecessor for forgetting the American people and blamed the other allies for exploiting America’s weakness. Trump’s view on Europe was that they grew under the shadow of America. He began bullying EU countries in various ways. He had two weapons in his hands, economy and security on which the EU was dependent on the US. He began with NATO, which has been the bulwark for European security. Trump threatened to reconsider ARTICLE 5 of the NATO charter if the Europeans are not holding up to the end of their agreement. This was supposed to be most effective because even today the EU is more dependent on NATO for their Defence and strategic interest. However, it helped the EU revive the PESCO process of joint defence cooperation among the EU countries to reduce the US’s

dependence on security. Twenty-five European member states have formally agreed to establish a European Union defence union, known as PESCO.
Trump did not leave the economy; he began to criticize economic relations outrightly. He referred to the bloc as far worse than China when it comes to Trade. The significant friction came in with the imposition of tariffs on Aluminium and Steel, which officially set the stage for the trade war— continued further with the section 232 investigation on the automotive industry. It also threatens to launch a section 301 investigation. The EU retaliated by slapping tariffs on vital American products like the Harley Davidson and bourbon. Finally, the rift reached a high point on the JCPOA and sanctions on Iran. The sanction on Iran affected many European companies. Apart from these, the most recent issue that caused the rift is the new tech cold war on the 5G issue. Trump tried to establish a coalition with the EU to ban Huawei on the grounds of national security. However, he couldn’t because, in the EU’s eyes, China and the US are not different when it comes to technology. For years, the EU has insisted that Washington needs to take substantial steps to safeguard Europeans’ data, roll back spying powers, work on fairer taxation of digital giants, and address market distortions caused by the size and power of Big Tech. The Digital tax issue is still a bomb that can burst anytime. When the union turned down Trump’s proposal, he independently conducted bilateral relations with EU countries, sowing the seed of dissension within the union to fuel Euroscepticism. Hence, by the end of 2020, the common interest, Shared interest, and mutual interest faded away, and Conflict of interest emerged.

The Ups and Downs in transatlantic relations have been a common phenomenon and have existed throughout their existence. However, some changes in the world order beyond these two blocs, in the contemporary world, like the rise of the Indo Pacific, especially the emergence of China and India as regional powers, might make the US – EU relations irreparable. The EU, in the recent two decades, realized their massive dependence on the US and how the US has used it to its advantage. Today, the EU’s position is similar to the post-world wars, with the US from the west exercising its unilateral dominance and China from the east reaching out with new economic opportunities. History repeats, but with new variables, the Europeans decided to move towards their east this time. The EU – CHINA investment agreement was concluded despite resentments from the US. Still, the US has some chance to repair the relationship under the Biden administration if Joe Biden undermines the EU relationship with the east and decides to continue the US – EU relationship by accepting the EU demands.To put in economic terms He needs to realize that the EU’s value in the market has increased with China’s coming and possibly Russia also with its energy diplomacy.