The leaders of France and Britain head to Washington amid shifting European-US relations
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Washington next week amid alarm in Europe over U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardening stance towards the three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers, who will be travelling separately, are expected to try to convince Trump to keep Europe involved in future talks and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.
The visits come amid growing tensions between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Trump referred to as a “dictator.” This rift has raised concerns in Kyiv and among its European allies, who are already grappling with a more confrontational U.S. stance on trade, diplomacy, and even domestic European issues.
Philip Golub, a professor in international relations at the American University in Paris, said Trump’s rapid-fire moves in his first weeks in office, as well as the rhetoric from other U.S. officials, had been a major shock for the Europeans.
“They could not have expected that somehow within the United States would emerge this ultra-nationalist coalition of forces that would actually challenge Europe’s voice in world affairs in such a stark and strong way,” he told Reuters.
Britain and France are firming up ideas with allies for military guarantees for Ukraine, and their two leaders will seek to convince Trump to provide U.S. assurances in any post-ceasefire deal, Western officials said.
Macron and Starmer are expected to urge Washington to ensure Ukraine’s involvement at the table for negotiations on its future. Moreover, they would hope to get U.S. support for an emerging plan to have Europe deploy troops in a “reassurance force”. Starmer has stressed that the plan will only work if there is a U.S. “backstop,” likely in the form of American air power.
