“I love European people,” Vice President JD Vance said in interview with a U.K.-based news website this week, laying out his thinking on a number of issues related to U.S.-European ties. While the American vice president stressed historic cultural links between the U.S. and Europe, he doubled down on the Trump administration’s stance that the continent must step up to protect itself in the face of new threats, and not take protection for granted as a “security vassal” of the United States.
The interview with the UnHerd news website covered the topics of security, tariffs and trade, and the war in Ukraine, according to the outlet’s own report on its interview with Vance. Below is a look at some of the key remarks from the vice president on those topics.
“I’ve said repeatedly that I think that you can’t separate American culture from European culture. We’re very much a product of philosophies, theologies, and of course the migration patterns that came out of Europe that launched the United States of America,” Vance was quoted as telling UnHerd.
UnHerd was founded by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Marshall, who also owns the British right-of-center commentary magazine, The Spectator, and co-owns GB News, which has been positioning itself as a U.K. equivalent to Fox News.
“It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” Vance told the outlet, adding that he believes Europe’s increased independence from the U.S. in terms of security would be positive for the U.S., too, citing the invasion of Iraq as an example of how a more assertive partner could have benefited Washington.