How Europe Reacted to Trump’s Victory

Trump’s Return Leads to Mixed Emotions Across Europe

Photo credit: decode39

European leaders awoke on 6 November to news of Donald Trump’s re-election as US president. For many, it was an anticipated result, yet certain to bring new problems. Trump’s victory comes with a looming increase of tariffs, impacting European industry, as well as a likely shift in the US approach to the war in Ukraine—one that could push the EU to increase military support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration at the expense of social spending.

Despite these concerns, European heads of state managed standard congratulatory notes. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer all extended congratulations, with Starmer adding that the US and Britain “stand shoulder to shoulder in defense of our shared values of freedom, democracy, and enterprise.” In spite of their kind words, Trump’s return has probably left European centrists worried. Many ministers who pursued policies aligned with those of the Democratic Party can see that Harris’s loss could foreshadow their own political future.

At the same time, the European far-right celebrated Trump’s win, seeing it as a promise of their own growth: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni were among those expressing the most enthusiastic support.

In contrast, left and progressive parties in Europe took a critical stance to the whole election process. They recognized that Kamala Harris’s defeat was unsurprising seeing that the Democrats offered no real alternative to Trump’s policies. As people in the US were left to choose between Trump and a candidate who mirrors his policies, it is not really surprising that they chose the original, commented Giuliano Granato of the left party Power to the People (Potere al Popolo, PaP).

France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) echoed this sentiment, pointing out that the Democrats’ platform consisted solely of a continuation of neoliberal policies, anti-migrant rhetoric, and lack of action on climate change. Kamala Harris, they argued, failed to truly listen to people’s demands, particularly when it comes to popular pressure for the US to stop the genocide in Gaza. “When there is no left, there is no limit to the right,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon from France Unbowed.

Spanish progressive party Podemos attributed Harris’s defeat to her reliance on a “lesser-evil” approach and a failure to strengthen public services. Podemos’s European parliamentary Irene Montero said that this kind of approach only “paves the way for barbarism,” implying that European parties should learn from the Democrats’ example and not underestimate the possibility of increasingly right-wing politicians winning elections.

Many of the region’s left politicians stated that Trump’s victory reaffirms the need for Europe to forge an independent path, free from US influence.

The Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) urged Europe to turn from neoliberal cuts to social justice and workers’ rights. Raoul Hedebouw and Peter Mertens from PTB-PVDA specifically criticized Trump’s exchanges with billionaires like Elon Musk, which include promises of an authoritarian state where unions are weakened, environmental protections reduced, and social spending cut in favor of tax breaks for the rich. “Trump is a master of deception and lies. He presents himself as the defender of ordinary Americans, but he’s a billionaire who really only cares about the rich,” Hedebouw wrote.

Left leaders believe that the only hope for resisting Trump’s authoritarianism lies in the labor mobilizations and social movements growing across Europe and the US. Hopefully, Hedebouw stated, these movements will grow further and oppose the far-right as it attempts to clutch more power and influence.

A day after the US election, the European left is calling for a regional path that rejects both dependency on the US and the xenophobic, militaristic policies of Europe’s own far-right. As PaP’s Marta Collot suggested, “from Cuba to Venezuela, from Italy to Palestine, the only solution for peace and development in this scenario will always be the strengthening of the anti-imperialist struggle and popular organizations.”