US-EU Photo: IC

European leaders have mounted unusually sharp criticism of US foreign policy in recent days, warning that Washington is increasingly breaking away from international rules and embracing power politics, amid growing alarm over its actions against Venezuela and repeated statements laying claim to Greenland.

Against this backdrop, President Trump remarked in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, "I don't need international law," and claimed that his power as commander in chief is constrained only by his "own morality."

A Chinese expert said the remarks, in addition to Washington's recent military actions against Venezuela and seizure of its leader as well as its threatening to take over Greenland, reflect the US' long-standing hegemonic tradition and power-politics mindset, warning that such thinking could steer the world toward a disorderly and even brutal state.

According to The New York Times report, when asked whether there were any limits on his global powers, Trump responded: "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me."

When pressed further by The New York Times about whether his administration needed to abide by international law, Trump said, "I do." But he made clear he would be the arbiter when such constraints applied to the US. "It depends what your definition of international law is," he said, according to the newspaper. 

The New York Times interview also touched on broader geopolitical issues. When asked which was the higher priority — acquiring Greenland or preserving NATO — Trump declined to answer directly, but acknowledged "it may be a choice." He made clear that the trans-Atlantic alliance was essentially useless without the US at its core, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper further noted that "the president's insistence that Greenland must become part of the United States was a prime example of his worldview."

The US leader's latest remarks came after the administration's earlier statements about acquiring Greenland and US military actions that forcibly seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, have triggered opposition from European countries.

International law has long been treated by the US as an auxiliary tool — emphasized and invoked when it serves US global hegemony, but readily discarded when it conflicts with American interests, Jiang Feng, a researcher at Shanghai International Studies University and president of the Shanghai Regional Studies Association, told the Global Times on Friday.

The Trump administration's approach, Jiang said, has openly laid bare a long-standing US tradition of "self-centered supremacy" in defining its global role and handling relations with other countries. The result is a substantive overturning of the existing liberal international order, which is still largely Western-dominated.

European opposition

French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sharply condemned US foreign policy under Trump, saying respectively that Washington was "breaking free from international rules" and the world risked turning into a "robber's den," the Guardian reported on Thursday.

In his annual address to French ambassadors at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday, the French President criticized the US for "gradually turning away" from some of its allies and "breaking free from international rules," according to a press release issued by the Élysée Palace.

In his address, Macron repeatedly referred to the US both directly and indirectly, noting that "the United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it was still promoting until recently," according to the release.

"We are living in a world of great powers with a real temptation to divide up the world," Macron said, rejecting what he described as a "new colonialism and new imperialism." 

An AFP report noted that Macron's remarks on Thursday are "some of his strongest criticism yet of Washington's policies under Donald Trump" and it came as European powers were "scrambling to come up with a coordinated response" to Washington's forcible seizure of Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro and the US president's designs on Greenland.

A report by Politico EU noted that "Macron used the speech to paint a picture of predatory global powers seeking to divide the world into spheres of influence, with the US dominating the Western Hemisphere under the so-called Monroe Doctrine."

German President Steinmeier voiced similar concerns. He has strongly criticized US foreign policy under President Trump, warning against allowing the world order to disintegrate into a "den of robbers" where the unscrupulous take what they want, Reuters reported on Thursday. 

Steinmeier also said that the erosion of the world order had already reached an advanced stage. Smaller, weaker states risked becoming "completely defenceless" and entire regions could be treated "as the property of a few great powers", according to the Guardian. 

Reuters called Steinmeier's remarks "unusually strong", noting that they appeared to refer to actions such as the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. The former foreign minister said global democracy was being attacked as never before. 

Chinese experts noted that the criticism made by EU leaders reflects lessons drawn from a series of shocks, from Venezuela to Greenland, and follows the shattering of Europe's lingering belief that Washington would continue to treat its allies differently.

Steinmeier and Macron's remarks came amid a series of recent developments, including US military actions against Venezuela and Washington's claim of seeking to acquire Greenland, which have made Europe acutely aware that the set of "international rules" it has long relied on is coming under serious strain, Cui Hongjian, professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Friday.

Cui said disappointment with the US has been mounting among both European elites and ordinary people since Trump's first term, across NATO and the broader transatlantic relationship. While some in Europe once hoped Washington would correct its course, those expectations have largely collapsed amid a series of recent hardline US actions.

Some European leaders have sharply criticized the US because the EU has struggled to adapt to or accept changes in today's transatlantic relationship. This reflects a structural breakdown in value-based cooperation. For the US government, engagement with Europe is increasingly driven not by shared values but by what Europe can deliver in concrete terms, Jiang said.

Domestic pushback

With growing opposition from European leaders regarding the Trump administration's proposal to take control of Greenland, domestic pushback was also seen in the US congress.

Euronews reported on Thursday that over the past several days, opposition to the White House's threats to seize the Danish territory has been growing on both sides of the aisle.

European media noted that while it comes as no surprise that Democrats have largely condemned Trump's designs on Greenland, particularly any use of military force to seize the island, the fact that even leading Republicans are publicly breaking with their president on this issue is highly unusual.

Euronews quoted Republican Congressman Don Bacon as saying that "This is appalling…Greenland is a NATO ally. Denmark is one of our best friends… so the way we're treating them is really demeaning and it has no upside."

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune dismissed out of hand the prospect of deploying the military to seize the Arctic island, saying on Tuesday it was "not something that anybody is contemplating seriously," according to Euronews.

However, previously, US Vice President JD Vance reportedly hyped again that Greenland is "critical" for the defense of the US and the world against possible Russian or Chinese missile attacks. BBC reported on Thursday that Vance claimed in an interview on Wednesday that the US' missile defense infrastructure is partially dependent on Greenland.

The world has spent centuries gradually establishing an international order to prevent war and pursue lasting peace and common development, which is the result of collective global efforts. However, against the backdrop of the US openly declaring itself unconstrained by international law, the system is facing unprecedented damage. Such behavior sets a dangerous precedent of power politics — where "might makes right" — and risks pushing the international community back toward a jungle law, Jiang warned.

Jiang also cautioned that many European countries remain immersed in a moral identity shaped by post-Cold War narratives and are struggling to adapt to this fundamental rupture. Current trans-Atlantic relations, he said, reflect a structural breakdown of value-based alignment. 

"For the Trump administration, the key question is no longer of values, but what services and tangible benefits Europe can provide to the US. Europe is clearly unprepared for this shift, which explains the intense criticism and condemnation directed at Washington," Jiang said.