OPINION:
Once again, Europe is furious.
European Union officials are vowing a “coordinated response” to President Trump’s attempt to bring Denmark to the negotiating table over Greenland. They are warning of retaliation and lecturing Washington about sovereignty, stability and international norms. The statements are sharp, the tone indignant and the outrage unmistakable.
Europe’s real problem isn’t tariffs. It’s confidence untethered from competence.
This latest round of European anger would carry more weight if it weren’t coming from a continent that has systematically dismantled its own energy structure and then acted shocked when that loss of leverage shows up in conflict cash.
Europe talks tough because it has little else to lean on and always has the United States as a backstop.
In 2018, Mr. Trump warned Europe that it was making itself dangerously dependent on Russian energy. European leaders didn’t just disagree; they also laughed in his face. The idea that energy dependence could become a strategic weapon was treated as crude American thinking. Europe, they insisted, had evolved past that.
It was all fun and games until Russia invaded Ukraine.
Almost overnight, Europe’s self-confidence collapsed. Energy prices exploded. Factories slowed or shut down. Governments scrambled for liquefied natural gas and emergency supply deals. Through it all, Europe continued sending billions of dollars to Moscow.
In the third year of the full-scale invasion (ending February 2025), the EU purchased approximately $25.62 billion in Russian oil and gas. During that same period, the EU allocated roughly $21.88 billion in direct financial aid to Ukraine.
That’s $3.74 billion more for Vladimir Putin’s war machine. That isn’t leadership. It’s strategic failure.
Energy dominance is power. It means affordability at home, leverage abroad and insulation from coercion. Europe chose the opposite path by shutting down reliable generation, betting heavily on intermittent sources without adequate backup and assuming markets would magically fill the gaps. When those bets failed, Europe didn’t gain independence; it traded for dependency.
Nearly four years after the invasion of Ukraine, Europe still hasn’t fully escaped the trap it built for itself.
This is why Europe’s tariff outrage feels performative. Energy-secure nations don’t panic when pressure is applied. They absorb it. They negotiate from strength. Europe, by contrast, responds with declarations and empty threats because its economic foundation is fragile.
Germany’s leadership has acknowledged that shutting down nuclear power was a “serious strategic mistake.” The acknowledgment is remarkable not because it’s bold, but because it’s late.
Energy dominance isn’t about slogans or climate conferences. It’s about having enough reliable power to run your economy, defend your interests and withstand pressure from adversaries. Europe systematically undermined that foundation and now finds itself lecturing the United States while lacking leverage of its own.
In the current debate over the instability in Iran, take a look at the question everyone is asking: What is the United States going to do?
No one is on the edge of their seat wondering when France, Germany or Britain is going to make a move. Spoiler: It’s because the world knows who has the power.
Strong nations don’t rely on outrage as a substitute for power. They build it. Energy is always the fuel.
If Europe wants to be taken seriously on trade, security or sovereignty, it must confront the truth about its energy choices. You cannot lecture the world while financing adversaries. You cannot claim independence while importing vulnerability. And you cannot posture as a strategic heavyweight while dismantling the very systems that make power possible.
Tariffs didn’t expose Europe’s weakness; woeful energy policy did.
Until Europe relearns the lesson that energy dominance is national strength, its outrage will continue to sound the same: like institutional arrogance bordering on delusion.
• Larry Behrens is an energy expert and the communications director for Power the Future and author of “Power Restored: President Trump’s First Year and the Revival of American Energy Leadership.” Follow him on X/Twitter @larrybehrens.
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