Signal chat shows US contempt for Europe runs deep

While the chat group, which was formed on the Signal app, featured key administration officials such as Vice President JD Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it also inadvertently included The Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.

Goldberg says he was added to the message chain, apparently by accident, after receiving a connection request from someone who appeared to be Waltz. The US National Security Advisor has subsequently admitted to having mistakenly added Goldberg to the messaging circle.

Goldberg's subsequent revelation that he had seen classified military plans for US strikes on Houthi positions, including weapons packages, targets and timings, has provoked a political storm in Washington.

Disparaging remarks

But it is the unflattering remarks about Washington's European allies that have caused the most upset in Europe. During a discussion about the potential costs of the mission, Vance complained that any military action undertaken by the Americans would ultimately benefit the Europeans because of their reliance on using the shipping lanes in the Red Sea region that were being targeted by the Houthis. "I just hate bailing Europe out again,"  the Vice President complained.

His anti-European sympathies were then echoed by Hegseth, who commented: "VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC."

Nor is the leak of the exchanges within the national security team's group chat the only example of the Trump administration's dismissive attitude towards their European allies.

Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy and another prominent member of the chat group, has made equally disparaging remarks about the proposed plan by the UK and French governments to form a "coalition of the willing" to undertake peacekeeping operations in Ukraine in the event of a lasting ceasefire being agreed upon. Rather than supporting the initiative, Witkoff dismissed the proposal as a "combination of a posture and pose" in an interview with the pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson.

He also accused the prime minister of adopting the "simplistic" notion that leaders "have all got to be like Winston Churchill".

Coming at a time of heightened tensions between the US and Europe over the failure of so many European countries to provide adequate funding for their defence, the revelations concerning the unflattering views of many senior members of the Trump administration towards their European counterparts is not entirely helpful.

Constant criticism

Trump himself has constantly criticised European leaders for not paying their fair share towards NATO's running costs, and the disparaging remarks made by key administration officials such as Hegseth and Vance will add to concerns in Europe that they can no longer rely on the US to protect their interests. 

Moreover, concerns that the Trump administration is prepared to pursue its own agenda at the expense of its erstwhile European allies have been heightened by the Trump administration's decision to exclude European leaders from diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, with the White House preferring to engage directly with Moscow to negotiate an end to hostilities.

Will European leaders be pleased about US Vice President JD Vance's announcement concerning his plans to visit Greenland, the Arctic country that Trump claims he wants to annex for national security reasons?

As Greenland is technically part of Denmark, any move by the Trump administration to extend its influence over the Arctic country is guaranteed to further exacerbate the already strained relations between the US and Europe.