For the EU, the Trump presidency has meant the end of innocence, the realization that the US may not be there for Europe. Hence, Europe has to learn to stand on its own two feet.

“European leaders have had to come to terms with the fact that the relationship with the US can change,” says EU Programme Director Juha Jokela from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

European leaders are hoping the relationship will get better if Joe Biden becomes the next president. Jokela points out, that even if it does, many things have already changed in the increasingly multipolar world, where power politics and geoeconomic reasoning play an important role.

“This is a point in time when a more constructive US­-EU relationship could have had a real impact on the development, and that opportunity has been lost.”