Since the original Brexit vote in 2016, the current US administration has supported division and encouraged the British government to move towards separation from the EU. Washington is the only one who benefits from a division and distrust among the Europeans and EU members. But it also is very well aware that a balanced and cooperating EU can have political and economic power and turn into a threat against the United States.

A keyword in Trump’s statement was ‘allies’ with whom he said Washington had been in frequent contact. Unlike many situations in which allies would translate into European countries, this time they have all been a target except for the United Kingdom. To follow the same policy toward Europe, Trump blamed the European Union for failing to take necessary precautions and in continuation of his war of tariffs and other economic leverages they have used against these former ‘allies,’ he emphasized that “these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing.” The pandemic virus COVID-19 is mainly transmitted human-to-human and is not very difficult to sanitize cargos and stuff entering a country; yet by putting restrictions on cargos under the pretext of coronavirus, he is exploiting a global pandemic to put more economic pressure on Europe.

Moreover, he continues to dictate to the Europeans – who, by the way, had just less than a month ago discussed ‘Westlessness’ in Munich Security Conference – what an ‘ally’ for the US would mean, by clarifying that such restrictions are not applying to the United Kingdom. After weeks of denial – to some extent similar to the US – not accepting to close schools or public events; the UK is now dealing with a terrible coronavirus situation whereas PM Boris Johnson warned citizens on Friday that “many families need to be ready to lose many loved ones.” So, it is not science that is exempting the Britons from the rest of the Europe, but right-wing nationalistic and racist views which has re-surfaced. People in the White House are returning to WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) views of early centuries of the US history.

Another sign of this nationalistic view is the term US officials have been using in recent days when talking about the internationally known COVID-19 novel coronavirus. They have been calling it the ‘Chinese virus’ or as Trump said in his speech, ‘foreign virus’. In the real world, a virus recognizes neither political borders, nor races or partisan affiliations. It is a nationalist viewpoint that can see a biological thing as a ‘foreign’ element.