Transatlantic “Othering”: European External Action Identity and the Trump Administration

Foreign policy is not only a reaction to the world as it is, but it also attempts to build a world as it should be. The European Union, being an actor on the international scene, grounds its external action in conceptions of the necessity of multilateralism and in building postmodern (post-Westphalian) notions ofstate sovereignty. These elements are an inherent part of the Union’s “foreign policy/identity nexus”. The identity is reinforced by significant “Others”, who do not share the EU’s view of the ideal world order. The Donald Trump administration’s reluctance and even repudiation of multilateral solutions is a challenge for the operationalization of the EU’s “foreign policy/identity nexus” and thus the US is currently in the position of the Union’s constitutive “Other”. However, while we would expect that this development would reinforce the EU’s external action identity, the Trump presidency has at the same time empowered antiglobalist and sovereigntist forces in Europe, which will drive wedges into EU foreign policy and cause further incoherence, especially along the new/ old member state divide.