text: In fact, due to the relatively restrained foreign policy pursued by President Obama because of “intervention fatigue” facing the USA due to its several major international military interventions since the end of the Cold War, this difference of approach between the USA and the EU was quite obvious even before President Trump. However, the widening gap between the two shores of the Atlantic has become increasingly noticeable since President Trump came to power. This has made the life for Chancellor Merkel more difficult in managing the relations with the USA, as she has been making efforts to repair the damage caused to transatlantic relations due to the stance of her country in 2003 opposing a US-led intervention in Iraq.[8]
  In this respect, it was argued by Robert Kagan already in 2002 that the EU and the USA should stop pretending they have “shared view of the world,” and should act as their worldviews and perceptions of interests necessitate.[9] Similarly in the same year, it was claimed by Charles Kupchan that “the next clash of civilizations will not be between the West and the rest but between the United States and Europe.”[10]
  Accordingly, with President Trump in power, US behaviour toward Europe has displayed tangible changes. For instance, unlike the US approach in the past, President Trump has publicly criticised governments made up of mainstream parties, including the coalition government in Germany, for being inefficient in the face of massive and irregular refugee/migration flows and therefore causing changes to “European culture.” Consistent with President Trump’s unusual remarks on the internal affairs of EU states, the US Ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, has acted outside the established diplomatic practices and made statements insinuating sympathy and support for populist and anti-European integration movements across the EU.[11] As a result, German politicians have called on the US Administration to withdraw its Ambassador from Berlin as his interference with domestic politics was unacceptable.[12]
  Some relate this unusual US policy to the fact that President Trump’s administration looks at relations with Europe only from a transactional perspective, does not have a strategic vision for European integration and even considers the EU’s institutional entity a “foe” and a “German vehicle,” instrumental in extracting unfair and imbalanced trade benefits from the USA.[13] President Trump’s hostile approach to the European integration project comes in a period when the EU faces multiple challenges, ranging from Brexit and the rise of populist and anti-EU movements, to irregular migration and institutional reforms.
  As to the approaches of the EU and the USA towards the RF, despite their differing views, in general, the EU countries consider the RF’s growing military power and recent interventions destabilising its neighbourhood a threat to European security and stability. On the other hand, President Trump regularly praises Russian President Putin and has made efforts to establish friendly relations with his Russian counterpart. After the NATO Summit in Brussels on 11-12 July 2018, he had a summit with President Putin in Helsinki on 16 July 2018. Particularly in a period when the USA and the EU have imposed and maintain sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in March 2014, Trump’s policy towards Russia and personal high opinion of the Russian President have caused concern in Europe and added another area of tension to the transatlantic agenda.[14]
  Still, the EU leaders appear not to have given up on President Trump completely. On proper occasions like bilateral contacts or multilateral meetings like NATO Summits, they spare no efforts and try to change his perception about transatlantic relations, multilateral co-operation and rules-based international order. A main argument which they use is that the USA and the EU are both stronger and more effective when they act together. President Trump, however, does not seem to be changing his view that the EU countries like Germany, hiding behind EU norms and regulations, have been enjoying an unfair and imbalanced trade relations with the USA and “robbing” his country “like a piggy bank,” and that this must end. Therefore, the EU side has been coming to the terms with the fact that the nature of transatlantic relations is transforming into something that cannot yet be clearly described at this stage, and that they need to adjust their approach accordingly and engage with the USA in different ways.[15]
  In terms of ensuring Europe’s security, the EU/European countries do not yet have a credible alternative to NATO. Transatlantic relations remain asymmetric, in the sense that the USA has the upper hand and the ability to influence decision makers in Europe, although this influence varies from one country to another. Under these circumstances, after the NATO Brussels Summit of 11-12 July 2018, President Trump stated that he might withdraw the USA from the NATO but was not considering taking such a step at this point in time. Being aware of the privileged and even hegemonic position the USA enjoys in Europe thanks to NATO and the US commitment to European security, he may not really have meant to leave NATO altogether.[16]In May 2017, the Alliance moved to its new headquarters in Brussels, which due to the generous use of glass and steel in its exterior design, is presented as “an image of power and renewal” and cost allies USD 1.45 billion.[17] The real objective of President Trump in making such statements may be to get NATO allies to where he wants in terms of burden-sharing, and also by taking advantage of Brexit, to strengthen US leadership within the Alliance and in Europe so that it can maintain asymmetric relationship with Europe.