In Europe, Standing Up to America Is Now Patriotic

The United States and Europe have had serious foreign-policy disputes before—notably during the Iraq War, when France and Germany split with the U.S. over the invasion. But since he took office in January 2017, President Trump’s decisions, including his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and his imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on European countries, have initiated a series of severe disagreements. And the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran may be the gravest yet.

It was the combination of European and U.S. sanctions that helped bring Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program, ultimately resulting in the accord Iran, the U.S., the EU, and others struck in 2015. But that coalition has split with the U.S. withdrawal, and the Europeans are now openly flirting with ways to skirt the coming reimposition of the U.S.