The transatlantic alliance under pressure: Macron and Starmer, a common front in the face of Trump

Despite an Iliescian consensus, achieved sinuously from the meanders of the concrete, displayed by Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump at the press conferences before and after the high-level meeting, the statements of the two heads of state show a cruel reality: the US and Europe are more divided than ever regarding Ukraine and relations with Russia.

Basically, after the French president's visit to Washington, it can be said that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer - who is to meet Donald Trump tomorrow - and Emmanuel Macron are now the main vectors of a European policy that seeks to maintain US support for Ukraine, while Trump seems more concerned with a quick agreement with Putin, even at the cost of territorial concessions.

While Starmer and Macron insist on firm guarantees for Ukraine's security, Trump seems more concerned with quick negotiations and "an understanding" with Putin, without guaranteeing American support for the stability of the region. In these circumstances, the future of transatlantic relations remains uncertain, and Europe must prepare for a possible withdrawal of American support, a change that could reshape global security for generations.

The divergences between the US and its European allies are not just diplomatic, but reflect a paradigm shift in Washington's foreign policy. After meeting with Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump said, as quoted by Fox Business: "They didn't do anything to end the war either. Macron is a friend of mine and I'm going to meet with the British Prime Minister; he's a very nice guy... (but) nobody did anything."

Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, sees the situation differently, according to a statement given to Fox News: "President Trump's new mandate means a change in the rules of the game. And I think he has the deterrent capacity for the US to resume relations with Russia. My priority is for Europe to move faster on the situation in Ukraine, including the support provided. But first we need a truce, which could be evaluated and verified, and a full-fledged negotiation".

• Foreign policy - a business, in Trump's vision

The transatlantic diplomatic fault was outlined when, during the mini-press conference held by the two heads of state before the official talks, Donald Trump refused, when asked by a reporter, to qualify Vladimir Putin as a "dictator". "I don't use those words lightly", said the American president, although, only two days earlier, he had labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in this way. This hesitation was accompanied by an ironic smile from Macron, which means more than a simple diplomatic gesture: it reflects the fundamental differences in the vision of the two leaders.

Regarding the talks on Ukraine, Macron adopted a balanced strategy, combining compliments to Donald Trump with a firm stance: "We want peace; he (ed. - Trump) wants peace. We want peace quickly, but we don't want a weak agreement". In contrast, the US president presented his own vision of the negotiations on Ukraine, as if the matter were strictly a business matter, on the principle of "give, you give me".

"I mean, that's what I do. I do business. My whole life is business. That's all I know, doing business. And I know when someone wants to do it and when someone doesn't want to", said Donald Trump, discussing Ukraine as if in this case it were about the acquisition of a company with a few hundred or thousand employees and not about a country with over 41 million inhabitants.

President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly drawn Trump's attention to the fact that Russia is the aggressor state in this case and that any agreement must include security guarantees for Ukraine, something the US president has avoided publicly confirming.

• Macron, Starmer and Merz point, Trump remains inflexible for now

Moreover, the French president corrected Trump, when the latter was giving erroneous information. During the mini-press conference before the meeting, when Macron stated that this war had taken a lot of money out of the European and US budgets and that Vladimir Putin was the culprit, Donald Trump intervened: "Just so you understand, Europe is lending money to Ukraine. They are getting their money back."

"No," Macron replied, placing his hand lightly on Trump's wrist. "To be honest, we paid for 60% of the total (war) effort, we provided real money, to be clear. And these are grants, not loans," Emmanuel Macron corrected the US president.

For Donald Trump, the chore continues. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be on an official visit to Washington tomorrow for talks with the US president regarding Ukraine situation. Starmer will try to persuade the US president to move away from freezing relations with European partners. Before the British prime minister's visit, an adviser to him told the Guardian newspaper: "We don't want to anger Trump, that would be totally counterproductive for our interests and for Ukrainian and European security. We are much more interested in what he actually does, rather than what he says. So far, we think there is a difference."

However, future German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is running out of patience and told Tagesschau that his priority is "to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the US."

"I never thought I would have to say something like this on television. But at least, after Donald Trump's statements, it is clear that Americans - at least this part of Americans in this administration - are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe," said Friedrich Merz.

What is certain is that while European leaders try to maintain transatlantic unity and Trump redefines his global strategies, the future of relations between Europe and the US remains uncertain, marking a critical moment for geopolitical stability and international security.