Hal Brands, Columnist

Has Europe Broken the Trump Code?

January 30, 2026 at 6:00 AM UTC

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Standing together?
Photographer: Thierry Charlier/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

Poor Europe. That continent embodied the loftiest visions of peace and integration in the post-Cold War period. It has become the poster child for weakness in the rougher age that followed.

Today, the European Union is being squeezed by Russia, China and the US simultaneously. There are hints of a strategy that might allow Europe to navigate this era. The alternative is becoming one of its victims.