A more balanced US-EU strategic equation: reshaping the transatlantic relationship

Although the return to the White House of a transatlantic-minded Democrat is a positive sign for the relations between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), the Biden Administration’s foreign policy agenda will primarily focus on the challenge of restoring US leadership without hegemony. The EU must seize this challenge as an opportunity for renewing the transatlantic relationship by proposing a more balanced partnership as part of its quest for ‘strategic autonomy’. In this regard, the ‘New Transatlantic Agenda’ jointly proposed in December 2020 by European Commission President von der Leyen and High Representative Borrell should serve as a lynchpin for Europeans to (re)assert their collective ambitions and propose a transformed transatlantic partnership based on credibility. This can best be done in two key strategic areas that are common to Biden’s foreign policy agenda and the EU’s cooperation offer, forming also the two pillars of a ‘geopolitical Europe’: trade and security. On trade, the EU should aim for full autonomy to no longer be the direct or collateral victim of US sanctions, protectionism and trade wars. In the security field, the EU should seek to further clarify the terms of transatlantic security relations, particularly concerning NATO.