A majority of Europeans want to maintain an equal distance from the United States and China rather than aligning with one of the two superpowers over the other, a survey published on Thursday shows.
While just 4 per cent of Europeans polled would prioritise alignment with China over the US, 55 per cent preferred to keep “the same distance between the two”, according to the result of the Eurobazooka, a survey published by Le Grand Continent, a French magazine.
One-fifth of those polled across nine EU member countries would prefer to align with the US over China, with the highest number (25 per cent) in Spain – perhaps surprisingly, given that its government has pursued close ties with Beijing over the past two years.
The results come towards the end of a year in which Europe has had to closely consider its position between the two giants. Since the return of US President Donald Trump at the beginning of 2025, relations with Washington have been on the rocks.
The US leader has slapped punitive tariffs on the European Union and attempted to force Brussels to change its laws to accommodate American firms. It has also downgraded its military support for Ukraine, amid broad fears that it will cut the cord on a security arrangement that has largely protected Europe since World War II.
But despite this, Europe’s ties with China have scarcely improved as a result. With Beijing considered to have sided with Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine and a years-long string of trade disputes, the relationship is considered by EU officials to be at its lowest ebb.
Nonetheless, European officials have frequently sought to partner with Trump on China policy – a strategy that the survey suggests would be unpopular. Earlier research published last month by the Koerber Stiftung, a Berlin think tank, showed just 31 per cent of Germans saw the US as a partner on “dealing with China”, down from 49 per cent a year earlier.
The rest of the Eurobazooka report suggests that people’s views stem from a distrust of Trump’s America, rather than a desire to partner with Beijing. China is considered Europe’s main technological adversary, with 44 per cent of those surveyed placing it as the biggest threat, compared to just 9 per cent for the US. More than one-third, however – 37 per cent – said they were “both to the same degree” the major adversary.
Looking towards Washington, 48 per cent of those surveyed said Trump was a “foe of Europe”, with just 10 per cent considering him a friend. Trump is most popular in Poland, which was the only one of nine states in which more people considered Trump an ally (24 per cent) against a foe (19 per cent).
The countries surveyed were Croatia, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Belgium – where Trump is most unpopular. Just 7 per cent of Belgians consider Trump a friend, compared to 62 per cent who said he was an enemy.
Despite this, however, and perhaps emphasising Europe’s precarious security situation, 48 per cent of those polled wanted their governments to compromise with Trump, compared with 33 per cent who wished to oppose him.
Emphasising the populist wave and disenchantment with political elites encroaching across parts of Europe, meanwhile, almost half of those surveyed (47 per cent) would choose “a radical transformation of political institutions” over “maintaining order and stability”. Almost 10,000 people were interviewed for the poll in November.
