- the EU started getting nasty towards American tech before trump.

- pitching a fit about chicom 5G equipment.

- remember when trump pointed out the iran nuclear deal was really bad and not enforced/verified at all, withdrew, and the EU retaliated by pulling over 200 sanctions against iran?

- ongoing attempts to tariff us more than we tariff them due to their own economic inadequacy, dating back at least to the chicken tax.

etc.

since the inception of the EU, eurocrats got this crazy idea that europe can and should be some sort of great power in a multilateral order. of course, they took none of the substantive actions to build the necessary military and economic infrastructure. they were only too happy to accept all the benefits of letting us shoulder the burden of continental defense and literally couldn't manage the basic first step of not funneling billions per year to moscow in natgas purchases. instead they keep trying to be independent, getting a little friendlier with china, trying to make some sort of point that they're their own people, we don't set their policy, blah blah blah. it reminds me of a teenager acting out for no other reason than to show "he's his own man now" and "you can't stop him".

fine, but europe has enjoyed massive benefits from America, particularly post-wwii. if you want the benefits of a client state relationship, or client continent, be prepared to go along with the foreign policy of your benefactor.

i don't want to rag on just the EU here. there's been a trend of various countries breaking down the relationship of following American foreign policy in exchange for a lot of benefits. but trump's responses were ham-fisted and he was pretty rude about them publicly, so he catches full blame. like fish in the ocean, they ceased to remember they swam in an ocean of American prosperity.