Americans are a generous and kindhearted people, a people who strive to strengthen and preserve those delicate bonds of affection that unite the human family and give safe harbor to all its members.
No other country has given so much military, economic, and humanitarian help to the rest of the world as the United States of America. Europe has benefited enormously from this goodwill. Just think of the Marshall Plan and the unfailing military support, which have engendered remarkable prosperity and stability.
Instead of gratitude, however, a prevalent recent sentiment in Western Europe has been acute anti-Americanism and a socialist sense of entitlement. This “biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you” attitude was stoked, no doubt, by leftist ideologies that became the cultural fashion and moral creed in the West over the past several decades.
When anti-Americanism and national shame, exemplified by rampant DEI policies and erosion of patriotism, became the calling card of the Obama and Biden eras, this only exacerbated the loss of appreciation and respect on the part of Western Europe toward the United States.
The recent NATO and EU deals of the Trump 2.0 administration, however, signify a much-needed U-turn and a momentous revival of America’s international reputation.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte described as “fair” the increase of the European countries’ contribution to NATO expenses and remarked that President Trump was “very well respected.” Similarly, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the USA and the EU concluded “a huge deal,” “a partnership,” which will bring “stability.” She further explained:
The starting point was an imbalance. A surplus on our side and a deficit on the U.S. side. And we wanted to rebalance the trade relation, and we wanted to do it in a way that trade goes on between the two of us across the Atlantic. Because the two biggest economies should have a good trade flow between us. I think we hit exactly the point we wanted to find – rebalance but enable trade on both sides, which means good jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, and that was important for us.
Instead of one-sided, unappreciated charitable efforts on America’s part, the United States and the European Union now have a mutually beneficial partnership. Contrary to the pessimistic prognoses of leftist pundits, the tariffs are proving to be an effective negotiation tool, which has not caused any economic disasters but just the opposite, as the July 2025 report has just confirmed. Moreover, the agreed-upon tariffs usually reach moderate percentages and are combined with increased investment revenue and revival of domestic industries.
Even Adam Smith, the original staunch proponent of laissez-faire economics, often referred to as “the father of capitalism,” conceded that protectionism is justified for the purposes of national defense and that retaliatory tariffs might be beneficial when “they w[ould] procure the repeal of the high duties or prohibitions complained thereof.” (The Wealth of Nations, Ch. 2). Smith elaborates (ibid.):
The case in which it may sometimes be a matter of deliberation how far it is proper to continue the free importation of certain foreign goods, is when some foreign nation restrains, by high duties or prohibitions, the importation of some of our manufactures into their country. Revenge, in this case, naturally dictates retaliation, and that we should impose the like duties and prohibitions upon the importations of some or all of their manufactures into ours….
In 1697, the English prohibited the importation of bone lace, the manufacture of Flanders. The government of that country, at that time under the dominion of Spain, prohibited, in return, the importation of English woolens. In 1700, the prohibition of importing bone lace into England was taken off; upon condition that the importation of English woolens into Flanders should be put on the same footing as before.
There is no question that economic freedom and free trade generate wealth in a society. Free trade, however, does not mean economic disadvantage for America but must be rooted in fair play. Free trade presupposes shared values, mutual advantage, and rational self-interest on both sides. Strength, combined with fair play, commands respect and reciprocal goodwill. Churchill famously noted: “No people respond more spontaneously to fair play. If you treat Americans well, they always want to treat you better.”
Nora D. Clinton is a Research Scholar at the Legal Insurrection Foundation. She was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds a PhD in Classics and has published extensively on ancient documents on stone. In 2020, she authored the popular memoir Quarantine Reflections Across Two Worlds. Nora is a co-founder of two partner charities dedicated to academic cooperation and American values. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and son.
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