LONDON, February 25. /TASS/. Relations between the US and Europe are experiencing major problems, but it would be naive to expect Washington to change its position, even after the current administration's term ends, former UK ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton told TASS.

"I think the transatlantic relationship is in a lot of trouble, actually. [US Secretary of State] Marco Rubio did a remarkable diplomatic job at the Munich Conference, but he didn't actually shift significantly away from the positions taken by US Vice President [JD Vance] a year earlier at the same conference," the former ambassador said. He pointed out that the US administration's ideas about "recreating a sort of white Christian West" seem problematic even from the point of view of its closest ally in Europe, the UK, where "seven or eight percent of population is now Muslim."

"This gap has grown wider over the last year," Brenton acknowledged. He cited Ukraine, tariff policy, Greenland, and the Middle East as examples of issues that cause disagreement between the US and Europe.

"The question is being seriously asked in Europe, including in the UK: for how long, how much longer is NATO, as we have known it, going to remain sustainable? For how much longer are the very close links of cooperation and economic cooperation, all of that, between Europe and the US going to be sustainable?" the diplomat noted. According to him, the UK hopes these ties will remain, "but there is no guarantee," which is forcing Europeans to consider finding new partners.

At the same time, Brenton called expectations that the White House's position might change naive. The former diplomat recalled that when Democrat Joe Biden replaced Republican Donald Trump in 2021, US policy toward Europe was adjusted, albeit not radically. "The insistence that European states pay more for their own defense is still there. The determination to maintain tariffs and controls on international trade is still there," he noted.

Brenton emphasized that the next administration will not see a shift in US policy toward Europe. "Trump won, then Biden, so it's not a surprise that it's back. And what would be a surprise is if any of that goes away, whatever happens after Trump," the former diplomat noted.