Can the EU decouple from Trump's America?

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can the European Union really decouple from Donald Trump’s America — economically, politically, and strategically? In this episode of EU Confidential, host Sarah Wheaton speaks with Mateusz Morawiecki, former Polish prime minister and president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party about his call for an “Economic NATO,” an even stronger economic and political alliance between the EU, the U.S. and others as counterbalance to China and Russia. His vision goes against a mainstream trend we’re observing across European capitals as they seek to decouple from Trump’s America. To explain what this EU-U.S. divorce looks like in practice, Sarah is joined by Zoya Sheftalovich, POLITICO’s Chief EU correspondent. Plus, some exciting news, we introduce the Brussels Playbook Podcast, our new daily show launching next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:00.3	For years, words like decoupling and derisking were mostly used when talking about China.
1:09.3	Now, increasingly, Europe is using them about the United States.
1:15.9	Across European capitals, leaders are rethinking how dependent they want to be on Washington under Donald Trump.
1:23.7	Okay, I mean, some of you might be saying what took them so long?
	...

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