Europeans want their leaders to stand up to Trump
But mounting support for the EU presents a dilemma for negotiating with Washington.
European voters want their leaders to push back against the Trump Administration’s pressure on the continent and they’re willing to support collective EU action to do so. That’s according to the European Sentiment Report, an annual survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) that examines shifting attitudes across all 27 member states.
Pawel Zerka, the ECFR’s head of polling and data research who authored the new study, says the White House’s trampling the rule of law and selective embrace of free speech has served as a wake-up call for Europe.
“Liberal Europe is at stake,” he told Compass.
The ECFR’s network of researchers examined the views of governments and citizens across the EU through interviews, opinion polls and a standardized survey completed in July 2025. The study compared member states’ perceptions about Europe and the continent’s relations with the new US administration.
Voters responded positively when mainstream politicians have pushed back, including over several European countries’ recognition of Palestinian statehood and their categorizing of Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide.
But the findings also highlight a paradox: Trust in the European Union is now at its highest since 2007—before the global financial crisis upended traditional politics the following year. Yet European leaders have largely responded to Washington’s demands with accommodation rather than resistance. From France’s Emmanuel Macron to EU President Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s Friedrich Merz to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, heads of state flew to Washington this year in what the Financial Times dubbed Europe’s “Summer of Humiliation.”
Anecdotal evidence reinforces the ECFR survey results. “They need to grow a backbone!” one of my neighbors in Switzerland bluntly said, although the Alpine country is not part of the EU. He was angry about Washington’s unilateral imposition of 39 percent tariffs on Swiss goods, which put 200,000 jobs at risk. “Bowing and scraping is useless, it’s a waste of time!” wrote one of more than 1,300 commentators in an online forum on Swissinfo. Others have called for boycotts of American goods.
Zerka describes European leaders’ behavior as pragmatic attempts to buy time. “They are trying to be tactical, to remain in relatively good relations with the US president,” he said, adding they will continue “as long as Europe cannot properly take support for Ukraine into its own hands.”
But his polling suggests Europeans want to see their leaders doing more to fight back, not necessarily because of idealism but rather the belief that a joint EU response is the only realistic way to counter what many perceive as American bullying.
“Collective action matters in a volatile world,” Zerka said. “Europeans are now very aware of this.”
Many were shocked this year to realize just how vulnerable the continent is to American pressure. Wielding its power to provide everything from transatlantic security guarantees to irreplaceable technology, the United States has been able to extract concessions because it seemingly holds all the cards. When Tesla boss Elon Musk threatened to pull satellite internet access to his Starlink system from Ukraine, for instance, Europe had no viable replacement.
Some concessions are less contentious, such as increased European military spending. Others remain controversial. The European Commission’s agreement to buy American natural gas has drawn criticism from advocates of green energy, which has strong public support. And there’s widespread concern about the routine US opposition to EU regulations on American tech giants, particularly over online protections for children, and Washington’s threats to increase tariffs in response to their enactment.
But the global rise of far-right movements is complicating the political calculus. The Trump Administration is working hard to cultivate relationships among their leaders who hold power in Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Italy and, until last month, the Netherlands. They’re also leading emboldened and increasingly popular opposition in France, Britain and Germany.
And while popular trust in the EU has surged and voters’ support increased unity—reversing more than a decade of erosion that largely benefitted the far right—center-left and center-right parties are still responding to their electoral vulnerabilities by shifting policies rightward in an attempt to outflank burgeoning far-right movements. That’s particularly true for immigration.
But Zerka believes trying to outmaneuver the far right by accommodating Trump is “a huge mistake” when the strife of the past nine months appears to have clarified the common values many citizens want Europe to embody.
It’s about “the dignity of Europe,” he said. “If it’s undermined, then we can say goodbye to [our] identity.”
A former foreign correspondent for The Guardian, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal Europe, Alison Langley is a novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Budapest Noir: Ilona Gets a Phone, was published by Dedalus Books in 2024 and was a finalist for the Irish Writer’s Centre Novel Prize 2022. Her work also appears Frazzled Lit and The Pig’s Back in Ireland. She lives in the Swiss Alps.