Historians will remember the current period of geopolitical turmoil as the moment Western nations lost trust in the U.S., Sir Richard Branson has warned.
The British billionaire behind the Virgin brand gave a furious assessment of the new U.S. administration on LinkedIn, lambasting a rhetorical U-turn from being the West’s peacekeeper to its main antagonist since Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Policymakers in Europe have been scrambling since Trump took office. The president is pushing for Ukraine to agree to a peace deal with Russia, going so far as to temporarily withdraw military support for the country.
Trump has also discussed pulling the U.S. out of the NATO military alliance after complaining for years about European member states failing to reach their targeted spending relative to GDP.
Meanwhile, EU member state Denmark is batting off fresh attempts by Trump to acquire Greenland for the U.S.
The EU has since rallied together to collectively pledge more than $800 billion for defense spending. Germany recently approved a $1.3 trillion spending plan on infrastructure and defense that would see it partially remove its strict debt brake in order to fund its military spending.
In a post that touched on the U.S.’s past roles in World War II and the Cold War, Branson expressed incredulity at the current situation that has seen the U.S. rhetorically split with Europe, with Branson highlighting Trump’s labeling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” as a particularly contentious act.
Branson struggled to imagine a precedent for what he called an “about-face of this scale and significance.”
“Imagine President Roosevelt changing his mind halfway through World War II, calling Winston Churchill a dictator and then seeking to befriend Hitler,” he wrote.
“And yet, this is the situation European powers are now faced with—their principal military ally suddenly switching allegiance.
“Historians will look back at this era in global politics as the time when Western nations’ trust in America ended. It’s frustrating (and incredibly sad) to see this great nation let down its allies, not only because it is the greatest threat to global stability seen in decades, but because it will ultimately do irreparable harm to America, its reputation, and its capacity to advance its interests positively in the world.”
Branson also referenced the Budapest Memorandum, a 1993 agreement that led to Ukraine, alongside Belarus and Kazakhstan, giving up its nuclear weapons in return for future protection against Russia. He implied the U.S. risked abandoning its obligations to Ukraine’s safety as a result of that memorandum.
The billionaire has developed close business and cultural ties with the U.S., using the country as the main export market for his music and transport brands over the years, including Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic.
A representative for the Virgin Group didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.