President Bush's recent journeys to Europe were bitter-sweet
reminders, if any were needed, of the continued centrality of
transatlantic relations for U.S. interests. Even as the new
administration grapples with the shift of world economic and
political weight to Asia and turns its attention to issues such as
trade in the Americas or the problems of Africa, cooperation with
Europe remains the cornerstone of U.S. international engagement.
Nowhere is the United States enmeshed in a thicker web of
institutional and cultural ties than it is in continental Europe and
the British isles. Whether one speaks of economic stakes, scientific
and technological cooperation, or the bonds of common history and
philosophies of government, it is clear that nothing can diminish
Atlantic relations to a second order concern. In a practical vein,
too, it is difficult to see how the United States can accomplish any
of its international goals--even in Asia--in the absence of
cooperative relations with Europe.
At the same time, however, reactions to Bush by European leaders, the
press and the general public confirm the degree to which Europe,
freed of its Cold War dependence on Washington, feels that it can and
must assert itself in relations with the United States.
"Superpower"--a term rarely used in this context even two years
ago--has become commonplace in discussions of the European Union's
economic and political (if not military) ambitions vis-a-vis
Washington. While political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic
affirm the continued importance of NATO, the Europeans clearly attach
greater long-term significance to the EU, and they suspect Washington
of trying to use the alliance and its enlargement to bolster American
influence on the continent and undercut the relative importance of
the Union.
