Roundup: "Much still unclear" about Trump victory's impact on EU-U.S. ties, says Italian expert

As the victory of Donald Trump in the United States' presidential election overwhelmingly hit the headlines in all major media here on Wednesday, Italian analysts started wondering what would such a result mean to Europe-U.S. ties.

"So far, we can say Donald Trump expressed the will to assess the current foreign alliances and see if they really meet the needs of the United States," Federico Niglia, professor of international relations and European history with LUISS University in Rome, told Xinhua. "Yet, we will have to wait and see if he puts this idea into practice."

"It also seems quite clear the U.S., in the perspective of Trump, does not want to be the sole provider of the security of other countries, and this mainly concerns the European defence, both as European Union (EU) and as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)," the expert added.

In this perspective, a key factor would be how much the European countries will be able, and willing, to increase their defence spending in the future, he said.

"The newly-elected president has largely talked about a self-sufficient America in his campaign. It is not clear yet whether this means it would also be an isolationist America," Niglia pointed out.

However, the analyst warned against making full predictions too soon. "Overall, it is not yet time for us to define what the next U.S. foreign policy will be, and how Trump's victory might impact on the relations with Europe."

"Much was still unclear," especially because Donald Trump had run as a real "outsider", he said.

"This implied he was not required to have a clear agenda in advance, as it instead was with Hillary Clinton, who clearly showed she would continue on the path of the Barrack Obama administration," Niglia explained.

Some of his remarks, especially on the role of minorities and women, bothered a large part of the European audience, according to the analyst.

"These were not topics directly related to the foreign policy, yet they fed a certain idea of Donald Trump as a candidate not plausible, nor able to win," he said.

The LUISS political analyst believed that an "anti-establishment" factor played a role in the U.S. vote.

"It must be said that populism -- meant as the ability to speak at the simplest and most immediate feeling of voters -- has become a successful model in this era," Niglia added. Endit