Why the US says Europe is facing ‘civilisational erasure’
President Trump takes on the US’s traditional allies in a foreign policy upheaval
The Global Story · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
Europe is facing the prospect of ‘civilizational erasure’. That is the official view of the Trump administration, as put in a radical policy document that was released late last week.
The US government’s new National Security Strategy paints the most complete picture yet of who the administration sees as its allies and its adversaries, and it has left Europe’s leaders reeling.
Today, we speak to the BBC's State Department correspondent, Tom Bateman, about how Trump has turned traditional US foreign policy on its head.
Producer: Viv Jones, Lucy Pawle and Hannah Moore
Executive producer: James Shield
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One, 9 December, 2025. Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)