The Owned Continent

Why have Europeans surrendered to Trump?

In 2025, Europe endured a continental-scale humiliation. The EU and UK gave in to Donald Trump’s tariff extortion – agreeing to lopsided trade deals, tribute-like payments and adjustments to domestic laws. At NATO, European leaders grovelled ­– calling the US president “daddy” even as he threatened to annex Greenland by force.

“They call me the president of Europe,” Trump bragged. Terrified of losing US protection from Russia, European leaders have accepted terms that echo the coersion once imposed by Europe itself on China during its ‘century of humiliation’. Yet citizens accepted it. Why?

Journalist Dave Keating says the reason goes far beyond geopolitics. America permeates Europeans’ daily lives: television, music, news, technology, commerce and social media all create psychological dependence. Many Europeans feel so culturally intertwined with the US it’s almost like they live in it ­– making it hard to imagine America as anything other than a friend. That, Keating contends, is why Europeans capitulated while other global powers like India, Brazil and China didn’t. And it’s why so many people can’t accept that the threats to Europe don’t just come from the East, they also come from the West.

The Owned Continent offers a blunt assessment of Europe’s dependence and describes how Trump has exploited it. Yet Keating also proposes a way out: six essential steps to reclaim strategic autonomy and escape Washington’s control – by using the power of the European Union.