Trump Administration to Face Challenges in Europe

Hagan Burnett

He/Him

Staff Writer

2/10/25

After being inaugurated on January 20, President Donald Trump signed by far the most amount of executive orders in history that range in topic from foreign policy, immigration, gender & sex, and climate policy. Some are already being challenged in court as being either illegal or unconstitutional, but the others will most likely dominate American domestic and foreign policy for at least the next two years. 

SOUTH-WEST ASIA: Amidst this flurry of executive orders and court challenges several major events happened all across the world were overshadowed. Perhaps the most important beginning of a ceasefire in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militant groups. This ceasefire has been divided into multiple phases – the returning of hostages by both parties, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and commitment to  future reconstruction of Gaza with international cooperation. 

The ceasefire brought international acclaim from many countries, including both Biden and Trump, the UN Secretary-General, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the leader’s of multiple European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Germany, and several Middle Eastern. Despite taking place under the Biden administration, Trump has moved to take credit, posting on social media that his “National Security team will make sure that Gaza does not become a ‘terrorist safe haven’ again.” 

EUROPE: The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, resigned after mass protests against his rule following the November collapse of a railway station canopy cover, killing 15 in Novi Sad. 

Vučić’s successor will have a very difficult path to choose. Historically, Serbia has been a strong Russian ally, and while that precedent is still popular amongst Serbians, the country today finds itself surrounded by NATO members and under domestic pressure to join the European Union, particularly by students. 

A couple hundred kilometers away in Eastern Ukraine, the settlement of Velyka Novosilka fell to advancing Russian forces . The settlement holds strategic value as it serves as the last Ukrainian stronghold in Southern Donetsk following the fall of Kurakhovo. 

Russian forces now have a clear shot to enter the Ukrainian oblast of Dnipropetrovsk which would mark the first time Russia enters a new Ukrainian oblast since the beginning of the conflict in 2022. The rapidly deteriorating situation in Ukraine has been met with relative silence in the US since Trump’s inauguration. 
With Trump’s ceasing of all military and economic aid to Ukraine the situation is bound to only get worse as Ukraine suffers from manpower and equipment shortages across the front, and is losing territory at the fastest speed in almost two years. Trump, and the new administration in the United States will face many challenges in Europe, including whether or not to expand, maintain, or shrink NATO, whether to curtail or appease Russian expansion, or to increase or decrease economic investments.