In March, European diplomats were left scratching their heads after being hauled in by US government officials to explain why public and private satellite operators had published images of locations in the Red Sea.
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US officials accidentally share Yemen war plans with journalist in apparent security breach
US officials accidentally share Yemen war plans with journalist in apparent security breach
The episode is used to illustrate how cut off Europe is from official thinking in Washington. Since Trump’s return, the bloc has found itself regularly in the firing line – on the hook for tariffs, subject to the president’s expansionist territorial claims, and a target for anti-woke rhetoric from across his cabinet.
In a world where a slip of the tongue could lead to a démarche, tariffs, or worse, officials now prefer to say nothing publicly at all. One Brussels source last week described it as a “possum strategy … keep your head down and hope nobody sees you”.
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The Slovakian spent three days in Beijing, meeting Vice-Premier He Lifeng, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Customs Minister Sun Meijun. He gave a speech at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, but with the exception of a few tweets, you would scarcely have known it.