The Inside Story of Europe’s Breakup With the U.S.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:05)
Today, leaders from all over the world are gathered in Turkey for an annual meeting of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's a major alliance of more than 30 countries that's historically been celebrated by leaders across Europe and North America.
But one key person is very unhappy with it.

**Donald Trump** (0:25)
I'll say it publicly, we're very disappointed with NATO, because NATO has done absolutely nothing.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:32)
President Donald Trump has a long list of complaints with NATO.
He's threatened tariffs. He said he'll take over Canada and Greenland, and he's even talked about pulling the US out of NATO entirely.

**Donald Trump** (0:44)
I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake, and I've long said that I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:53)
Now, it seems like Trump's adversarial stance toward NATO is finally taking its toll. The relationship is breaking down.

**Joe Parkinson** (1:04)
Hi, I'm Joe Parkinson.

**Drew Hinshaw** (1:05)
I'm Drew Hinshaw.

**Joe Parkinson** (1:06)
We run the Wall Street Journal's World Enterprise team.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:10)
Our colleagues, Joe and Drew, have been looking into how this alliance of Western powers is splintering. They've spoken with heads of government and their top ministers and aides, and they've parsed through meeting notes and classified intelligence documents, all to piece together how this partnership that's been in place since the Cold War has started to fracture.

**Drew Hinshaw** (1:30)
Clearly, something is happening inside this marriage.
No one's filing for divorce, but the two sides are estranged. We wanted to know, in the closed door rooms, where European allies and Canadian allies talk candidly about the US, what do they see as the future of this alliance?

**Joe Parkinson** (1:52)
What we tried initially to do was to find out what was happening, but then what we discovered was that there were incredibly dramatic conversations happening between the most powerful leaders in Europe.
We had seen, of course, since Trump has been sworn in for the second administration, a lot of rhetoric, a lot of crossed words. We wanted to really understand what was happening in the real conversations that are deciding whether the West as an idea can continue.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:22)
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Wednesday, July 8th.
Coming up on the show, how things fell apart between the US and its Western allies.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:51)
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**Jessica Mendoza** (3:57)
To prepare for a second Trump term, NATO turned to Mark Rutte, who was the longest running prime minister of the Netherlands. He'd kept a close relationship with Trump for years.

**Drew Hinshaw** (4:08)
After Trump lost the 2020 election, Rutte, who was prime minister at the time, reached out to Trump, and they kept in contact throughout Trump's interlude as president.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:18)
That's our colleague, Drew Hinshaw again.

**Drew Hinshaw** (4:21)
And so in October, 2024, Trump is leading all the polls. And so they say we need someone who can be a Trump whisperer, so to speak.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:30)
NATO appointed Rutte to lead the organization.

**Mark Rutte** (4:33)
It is a great honor to be here and to take up the position of NATO Secretary General. And first of all, I want to thank all of your nations for trusting me with the responsibility.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:48)
Here's our colleague, Joe Parkinson.

**Joe Parkinson** (4:50)
And he really just has one job. And the one job, from the European's perspective, is to keep the US in NATO.
Use that relationship with Trump, use that warmth that they've developed together to try to understand what he needs, what he wants, so that the Europeans can keep America as that hub of the wheel of the military alliance.