European officials knew the president’s win would threaten the fundamental precepts of the post-World War II order. But the speed at which it is unraveling has created a crisis of enormous proportions.

Speeches delivered by J. D. Vance and Pete Hegseth were not just verbal lashings of America’s allies but a wholesale rejection of eighty years of U.S. foreign policy.

The front-runner to be Germany's next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said that Europe cannot rely on US President Donald Trump honouring NATO mutual defence obligations and must become more capable of defending itself.

A leading politician has voiced concern that the US administration might not uphold NATO's Article 5 - the cornerstone of the alliance.