section_path: Foreign policy/Europe
section_name: Europe
paragraph_text: Europe
  
  The Trump administration has argued that European nations should contribute more to their own defense while the U.S. focuses on China. During his 2024 campaign, he said he would not defend NATO allies if they did not meet the alliance's spending target of 2% of GDP on defense, and that he would "encourage" Russia to "do whatever the hell they want". Trump officials privately expressed contempt for European "freeloading";. Trump's policies and rhetoric accelerated an ongoing European rearmament. Trump called Poland, which exceeds the NATO defense spending target, "one of the best groups of people I have ever met". Trump's administration has also expressed cultural disagreement with Europe and the European Union: in a speech at the 61st Munich Security Conference, Vice President Vance criticized European policies on free speech and democratic values, and accused European leaders of suppressing dissenting views on issues such as immigration. Vance also expressed support for lifting restrictions on the Alternative for Germany, a far-right German political party. Trump's first foreign visit as president-elect was to Paris for the reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris, during which he met with French president Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the war in Ukraine, and met with other European officials. While meeting with British prime minister Keir Starmer in February 2025, Trump accepted a request from King Charles III for a state visit in the U.K.; both Trump and Starmer praised the U.S.–U.K. " Special Relationship ".
  
  Trump began a push for peace negotiations to end the Russia–Ukraine war. In February 2025, Trump held phone calls with Russian president Vladimir Putin and with Zelenskyy that he said marked the beginning of negotiations. He threatened Ukraine with a suspension of U.S. military aid and Russia with sanctions and tariffs if he decided they were not negotiating in good faith. The U.S. sought a mineral resources agreement with Ukraine though was unwilling to offer postwar security guarantees for Ukraine in exchange. Negotiators reached a deal on the agreement but the agreement fell through after a contentious meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office that ended when the Ukrainian delegation was abruptly asked to leave. Afterwards, the U.K. and France developed a proposal in which a " coalition of the willing " would provide security guarantees to Ukraine. The U.S. and Russia held a summit in Saudi Arabia for peace talks in February and U.S. held a summit with Ukraine the next month, during which Ukraine accepted a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire. Putin did not accept the ceasefire, though on 18 March Russia agreed to a 30-day ceasefire only for strikes on energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea, which Ukraine agreed to.