Lack of mutual trust and proper communication are two major pending threats to US-Europe relations, said Wang Shichen, a doctoral student of political science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, writing for news portal
The Paper.
In the past, meetings between European and US leaders on bilateral and multilateral occasions were a great chance to enhance mutual trust, whereas now every meeting with US President Donald Trump seems to be causing European leaders to lose confidence.
The trend is not only shown on official levels but also in terms of public opinion, with a recent poll in Germany showing that less than 15 percent of the German public still view the US as a trustworthy partner.
After leaders of the UK, Germany and France have successively visited the US, Trump has so far not visited any of his European allies. Although Trump was invited to visit the UK soon after he took office, the trip is still pending due to disagreements between the two sides over details such as the location of a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and whether it is appropriate for Trump to speak to the UK parliament, Wang said.
European leaders are unlikely to visit the US again in the near future. At the forthcoming G20 summit, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in late November, there will probably only be a slim chance for in-depth discussions between the US and Europe, given the number of countries that will attend the summit. Thus how the US and Europe will interact with each other will remain at the center of global attention in the latter half of this year, Wang said.
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