How Will Europe Handle the U.S. and Russia Situation After the Munich Security Conference?

The latest Munich Security Conference put a lot of pressure on European countries. After claims that US and Russian officials will meet to negotiate how to end the Ukrainian war and a concerning speech by US vice-president JD Vance, Europeans realized that their fears about Donald Trump’s plans are coming true. EU leaders worry that they might not be included in peace talks regarding the Ukraine war.

Therefore, they decided to meet for an emergency summit in Paris on February 17, 2025, to talk about European security, as well as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Europe Won’t Be Able to Rely on the U.S.

Many European countries are NATO members, and since war is currently taking place in one part of the continent, many nations were hopeful that they could rely on American power in case of an attack. Although the U.S. is still part of NATO, things have changed. Europe won’t be able to rely on the U.S. for help anymore. Moreover, Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Defense Secretary, mentioned that European NATO members should spend more on defense.

Currently, the NATO-mandated minimum is 2% of GDP, but it might get to 3%.

The War in Ukraine

It appears that the end of the Ukraine war will be discussed by the U.S. and Russia. Officials are set to meet in Saudi Arabia to begin the negotiations. However, European leaders are afraid that they will be left out of the discussions. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, also said that Kyiv had not been invited to these negotiations.

JD Vance Talks about Europe’s Politics and Freedom of Speech

U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s speech left a bad taste in the mouths of many Europeans. For the majority of his address, he criticized European governments and claimed that democracy and free speech are declining. Very few claps were heard during the address, with most meeting Vance’s claims with silence. Many politicians present at the conference denounced the vice president’s accusations.

Donald Trump’s Tariffs

Donald Trump announced his classic tariffs as the Munich Conference was dealing with other matters. The U.S. President wants to impose a 25% tariff on aluminum and steel imports starting from March. This could affect many businesses in Europe due to the impact on various services.

Europe is planning to retaliate. According to Goldman Sachs, the Europeans might not tax American goods but rather restrict American digital services. Doing so might bring a lot of revenue from many European markets.

“Services imported by the EU from the US span different sectors, including the financial sector, but the lion’s share are IT services that are then invoiced as royalties channeled to the US from Ireland,” says Goldman Sachs.

At the moment, Europe is closely watching President Donald Trump and waiting to see his next move. If he ends up applying new tariffs as he says, Brussels will have to find ways to retaliate in a way that would benefit Europe while putting the U.S. tech sector at risk of a trade war.