The Washington Post analyzes how a possible Trump victory would affect U.S. relations with Europe and Russia

The Washington Post has published several articles discussing how Donald Trump’s potential election as U.S. president could impact U.S. relations with Europe and Russia.

The publication notes that Europe anticipates a reassessment of transatlantic relations regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

However, the main concerns focus on a potential return of Trump to the White House.

According to sources cited in the articles, “there is a discussion on actions to protect against Trump,” including possible trade wars and shifts in security policy. One measure European politicians are considering is accelerating approval of further military aid to Kyiv before the U.S. elections.

Europe, however, may be less prepared for Trump’s return than it was during his first term. French President Emmanuel Macron is politically weakened, having lost his parliamentary majority; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is mired in coalition disputes and contends with a rise in the far right; and the ratings of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer have hit record lows.

“What will happen if a president is elected for a second term who declares NATO obsolete and is unwilling to uphold security commitments?” German opposition leader Friedrich Merz is quoted as saying. According to him, in this case, Europeans would be “left to their own devices.”

Regarding Russia, The Washington Post has an article titled, “Russia Pretends Indifference to U.S. Elections but Quietly Roots for Trump.” However, the article stops short of concluding that the Kremlin is outright backing Trump, despite how some Biden administration officials interpret Moscow’s stance.

“In Moscow, however, the mood remains more subdued and detached than it was during the 2016 election, when the State Duma erupted in applause after Donald Trump was declared the winner,” the publication notes.

Few in Moscow believe Trump could fully change the relationship between the two countries—especially since little changed during his first term.

“It seems they no longer have the same illusions as they did in 2016,” says Francis Scarr, a journalist with BBC Monitoring, who tracks and analyzes narratives in Russian media. “The main message for Russian viewers is that Trump is favorable, but the channels are cautious not to openly praise or promote him.”

“Although much has been said about Trump’s murky ties with Putin, Russia feels it gained little from his first term, during which a new set of tough sanctions was imposed and disputes erupted over the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Many in Moscow worry that Trump could remain constrained by the strongly anti-Putin American security establishment, so they refrain from openly extolling him, fearing it could backfire. ‘The U.S. president is not the same as the Russian president. He does not have the same power, and some of his decisions can be revised or contested on Capitol Hill. This makes us more cautious about the prospect of Trump coming to power,’” a Russian scholar with close ties to senior Russian diplomats is quoted as saying.

Some members of the Russian elite and Kremlin-aligned experts interviewed by The Washington Post do not rule out the possibility that Russia and the U.S. could reach some understanding under Trump, at least regarding the war in Ukraine.

However, experts interviewed by the publication suggest that if Trump fails to negotiate a deal with Putin, relations between the U.S. and Russia could worsen further.

The publication also notes that “the best-case scenario for Moscow” would be chaos in America following the election.