French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier have issued sharp criticisms of US foreign policy under Donald Trump, warning that the post-war rules-based international order is at risk of disintegration. Macron accused Washington of “breaking free from international rules” and turning away from its allies, while Steinmeier cautioned against allowing the world to become a “robber’s den”.
Speaking to France’s diplomatic corps on Thursday, Macron said: “The US is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from the international rules that it was until recently promoting.” He added that multilateral institutions are “functioning less and less effectively” and that there is a “real temptation to divide up the world”. Macron called for greater strategic autonomy for Europe and less dependence on both the US and China.
Steinmeier, speaking at a symposium in Berlin, described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a watershed, but said subsequent US behaviour marked a second “epochal rupture”. He noted a “breakdown of values by our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order”. The German president stressed the need to prevent the world from becoming “a robber’s den, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want”.
Both leaders were widely presumed to be referring to the recent US raid on Caracas and capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, as well as Trump’s stated aim of taking control of Greenland. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was weighing its response if US plans to acquire Greenland materialise, calling the messages “extremely concerning”. Nato ambassadors have discussed strengthening Arctic security, with some suggesting missions modelled on the alliance’s eastern flank operations.
Macron also stressed the importance of safeguarding academic independence and a “controlled information space”, defending the EU’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act against US accusations of coercion. Steinmeier concluded that European security policy must be revised, adding: “We must not be weak… we have to be taken seriously, also militarily.”
