A Unified Europe? Farewell to Uncle Sam

Since the end of the Second World War, transatlantic cooperation has been a constant in the turbulent world of international relations. Or at least it was until January 20, 2025.

When President Trump started his second term, the transatlantic alliance died. Trade tariffs. Threats to occupy Greenland and Canada. Reduced support to Ukraine.

This hostile behavior came as a great shock to Canadians and Europeans, who had seen the United States as a somewhat arrogant and temperamental but ultimately reliable leader of the free world.

In this situation, the European Union is faced with a massive challenge: how to survive and thrive in a cold and cruel world without Uncle Sam in your corner.

In what follows, I discuss Europe’s dilemma. The analysis is partly academic and based on geopolitics.

But it is also personal. I was born in Finland and still have my European passport. I am also a naturalized American citizen who has spent his entire adult life in the United States.

1. European and American dreams and nightmares

Europeans and Americans have always had different ideas of what a good life looks like.

The American dream is based on the idea that anyone can succeed in a capitalist society. This success then leads to home ownership, marriage, and family.

In Europe, the idea that anyone can succeed in capitalism is less popular. Europeans have always had far more support for equalizing policies such as free healthcare, free college, and generous social security.

In practice, neither the American nor the European dream is a reality for most people. In the United States, the wealthiest 10% is now responsible for 50% of consumer spending. European welfare states are struggling because of low productivity and aging.

Marriage and birth rates are declining on both sides of the Atlantic. The one institution that was common to almost everyone, family, is no longer the foundation of society.

The crises that engulf American and European societies are different facets of the same underlying problem. Industrialized countries built their social and economic systems on the assumptions of continued population and economic growth in a stable cultural environment built around the family unit.

Now the population is not growing. The economy sometimes still grows, but almost all the gains go to a elite. The cultural environment is completely chaotic.

If Europeans want to build a nicer society, they need more independence of the United States.

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