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In a bid to keep US support for Ukraine high under the new Trump administration, Brussels is now increasingly linking the fight against China’s assertiveness, a key priority for Washington, to efforts aimed at to support this war-torn European nation.

“If the United States is worried about China or other actors, it should also be worried about how we respond to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Kaja Kallas told lawmakers on Tuesday. Commissioner-designate for Foreign Affairs and Security.

Beijing helps Russia maintain its war machine, alongside Iran and North Korea, and should therefore “bear a higher cost” for its aid to Moscow, she added during her hearing confirmation at the European Parliament in Brussels.

This echoes comments made last week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, just one day after Donald Trump secured a second term in the White House.

Asked after a meeting of EU leaders in Budapest whether the European Union was prepared to increase its support for kyiv if Trump followed through on his threat to drastically cut US contributions, von der Leyen said. replied that it was “more important to discuss with our American friends”. it’s also the fact that Russia is not just a threat to Europe, but a threat to global security as a whole.”

“We see Chinese and Iranian technology being used by Russia on the battlefield. This shows that the security of the Indo-Pacific and that of Europe are interconnected, as are the interests of Europe and the United States in this cause.”

“I think this is an argument that we also need to be very clear about with our American friends,” she added.

The United States is moving east

Trump also said during the campaign that he would seek to end the war in Ukraine within days of taking office on January 20, raising fears that he would seek to impose painful territorial concessions on kyiv.

Another worry is that the $20 billion the United States is supposed to provide to Ukraine as part of a $50 billion (€45 billion) loan from G7 allies could be abandoned by Trump if they are not approved before his inauguration. Half of the U.S. share is earmarked for military assistance and requires congressional approval.

The new US president is expected to focus heavily on China, just as he did during his first term when he imposed drastic tariffs on Chinese goods.

The United States, under Joe Biden, has continued to recalibrate its foreign policy toward the East, unveiling an Indo-Pacific strategy and signing bilateral and multilateral partnerships, including military agreements, with countries in the region.

Led by Washington, the NATO military alliance has also focused some of its attention on the Indo-Pacific, mentioning the region for the first time in a statement released after a leaders’ summit in Vilnius, in Lithuania, in 2023.

Events in the Indo-Pacific, the NATO statement said, “may directly affect Euro-Atlantic security,” a phrase recycled in the document signed by leaders after this year’s summit in Washington.

“Transactional approach” to transatlantic unity

For Dr Ian Lesser, a distinguished fellow at the US German Marshall Fund, a think tank, “the belief that broadening the agenda will serve to highlight common interests and slow the drift towards unilateralism and economic nationalism” could “become a problem.” characteristic of the broader European approach to the new Trump administration.

“On both sides of the Atlantic we will probably see more explicit links, on security but also on commercial and regulatory issues,” he added in an email to Euronews.

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Washington could insist, for example, that local companies provide more predictable participation in European security. The EU could also decide to align its China policy more closely with that of the United States to avoid tariffs and other policies contrary to European interests.

“This reflects an increasingly transactional approach to transatlantic relations,” added Dr Lesser.

Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, is expected to be approved by MEPs in the coming days and take up her post as the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs in December.