For 80 years, Europe maintained an asymmetric yet cooperative relationship with the United States. This imbalance, long accepted as the price of stability and protection, has shifted dramatically under US President Donald Trump. What was once a strategically uneven interdependence has become an unbreakable grip, which is used to exert pressure while being denied by its victims.

In my book, l’Atlantisme est mort ? Vive l’Europe ! (Is Atlanticism Dead? Long Live Europe!), I describe this shift by introducing the concept of “emprisme”: a permitted grip in which Europeans, believing themselves to be partners, become dependent on a power that dominates them without their full awareness.

Emprisme does not merely refer to influence or soft power, but an internalised strategic subordination. Europeans justify this dependence in the name of realism, security, or economic stability, without recognising that it structurally weakens them.

In Trump’s worldview, Europeans are no longer allies but freeloaders. The common market enabled them to become the world’s largest consumer zone and strengthen their companies’ competitiveness, including in the US market. Meanwhile, through NATO, they let Washington bear the costs of collective defence.

The result? According to Trump, the US – because it is strong, generous, and noble – is being “taken advantage of” by its allies. This narrative justifies a shift: allies become resources to exploit. It is no longer cooperation, but extraction.

Ukraine as a pressure lever

The war in Ukraine perfectly illustrates this logic. While the EU mobilized to support Kyiv, this solidarity became a vulnerability exploited by Washington. When the Trump administration temporarily suspended Ukrainian access to US intelligence, the Ukrainian army became blind. Europeans, also dependent on this data, were left half-blind.

The administration’s move was not a mere tactical adjustment, but a strategic signal: European autonomy is conditional.

In July 2025, the EU accepted a deeply unbalanced trade agreement imposing 15% tariffs on its products, without reciprocity. The Turnberry agreement was negotiated at Trump’s private estate in Scotland – a strong symbol of the personalization and brutalization of international relations.

At the same time, the US stopped delivering weapons directly to Ukraine. Europeans now buy American-made arms and deliver them themselves to Kyiv. This is no longer partnership, but forced delegation.

From partners to tributaries

In the logic of the MAGA movement, which is dominant within the Republican Party, Europe is no longer a partner. At best, it is a client; at worst, a tributary.

In this situation, Europeans accept their subordination without naming it. This consent rests on two illusions: the idea that this dependence is the least bad option, and the belief that it is temporary.

Yet many European actors – political leaders, entrepreneurs, and industrialists – supported the Turnberry agreement and the intensification of US arms purchases. In 2025, Europe accepted a perverse deal: paying for its political, commercial and budgetary alignment in exchange for uncertain protection.

It is a quasi-mafia logic of international relations, based on intimidation, brutalization and the subordination of “partners”. Like Don Corleone in Frances Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Trump seeks to impose an unpredictable American protection in exchange for an arbitrary price set unilaterally by the US.

Emprisme and imperialism: two logics of domination

It is essential to distinguish emprisme from other forms of domination. Unlike President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, whose imperialism relies on military violence, Trump’s US does not use direct force. When Trump threatens to annex Greenland, he exerts pressure but does not mobilize troops. He acts through economic coercion, trade blackmail, and political pressure.

Because Europeans are partially aware of this and debate the acceptable degree of pressure, this grip is all the more insidious. It is systemic, normalized, and thus hard to contest.

Putin’s regime, by contrast, relies on violence as a principle of government – against its own society and its neighbours. The invasion of Ukraine is its culmination. Both systems exercise domination, but through different logics: Russian imperialism is brutal and direct; US emprisme is accepted, constraining, and denied.

Breaking the denial

What makes emprisme particularly dangerous is the denial that accompanies it. Europeans continue to speak of the transatlantic partnership, shared values, and strategic alignment. But the reality is one of accepted coercion.

This denial is not only rhetorical: it shapes policies. European leaders justify trade concessions, arms purchases, and diplomatic alignments as reasonable compromises. They hope Trump will pass, that the old balance will return.

But emprisme is not a minor development. It is a structural transformation of the transatlantic relationship. And as long as Europe does not name it, it will keep weakening – strategically, economically and politically.

Naming emprisme to resist it

Europe must open its eyes. The transatlantic link, once protective, has become an instrument of domination. The concept of emprisme allows us to name this reality – and naming is already resisting.

The question is now clear: does Europe want to remain a passive subject of US strategy, or become a strategic actor again? The answer will determine its place in tomorrow’s world.

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This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Sylvain Kahn, Sciences Po

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Sylvain Kahn ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.