After Trump's Midterm Defeat, Europe Views the US with 'Much Less Horror' — but Experts Expect No Big Shift

After the Democrats' victory in the US midterm elections, Europe is now viewing the United States with 'much less horror' than before. But experts say Washington's shift away from Europe runs deeper than Trump and is unlikely to be reversed.

During the campaign for the midterm elections in the United States, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans spoke much about issues related to Europe.

President Donald Trump's handling of the Ukraine war, his approach to Greenland and his aggressive posture towards the European Union were not on the agenda either.

While the Democratic Party's victory last week could produce a Congress that is friendlier towards Europe, experts do not expect major shifts in US foreign policy in some areas.

Erik Jones, director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, said: 'Europeans are looking much less in horror towards the US than they have in the past two years, but they should not exaggerate the significance in terms of transatlantic relations.'

He added: 'The trend line has been moving in a consistent direction across administrations, and this midterm election does not change that trend.'

For decades, the transatlantic relationship was built on the assumption that Washington needed a free, prosperous and secure Europe, while European governments relied on American security guarantees.

But that consensus has gradually eroded, and it did not start with Trump. Over time, there was a loss of popular support for global engagement on both sides of the Atlantic.

The pattern began under Barack Obama, analysts say, whose administration started a strategic reorientation towards Asia because of perceived threats to US security from the region. That has become a rare area of agreement across the political divide: Republicans and Democrats alike support Europeans taking greater responsibility for their own security.

The US president has accelerated that shift with his America First approach. He has repeatedly lashed out at NATO, threatened to seize Greenland and has shown greater respect for Russia than Ukraine, undermining European efforts to isolate and weaken Moscow.

A Democratic-controlled Congress will have more power over federal spending, legislation and congressional oversight to challenge some of Trump's decisions. But the president would retain considerable authority over foreign policy.

Fredrik Erixon, an economist and director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said: 'All speak in favour of better transatlantic ties, more predictable and more open to take into account European expectations from America.'