LONDON - The blow-by-blow of an American military strike on Yemeni Houthis, inadvert-ently shared with a journalist from The Atlantic on a public messaging app, ...
has given the world a remarkable glimpse into the thinking of the people directing US foreign policy. But one exchange was stunning not because it revealed something new — but because it didn’t.
Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other high-ranking members of the Trump administration spoke with palpable fury about Europe. Their sentiment was so strong that Vance suggested halting an attack on the Houthis, who had disrupted key international shipping routes for months, because it would help European economies more than it would America’s.
“I think we are making a mistake,” Vance wrote. “3 percent of US trade runs through the Suez. 40 percent of European trade does.” He was referring to the Suez Canal, a vital sliver of ocean upon which much of the global economy depends. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance added. Then, later in the exchange, he wrote: “I just hate bailing Europe out again.” (CNN)
