Ahead of America's 250th birthday celebrations in Brussels, Ambassador Bill White is in buoyant spirits.
The fireworks and flyovers are approved. The drone show is ready. Prime Minister Bart De Wever, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte are expected. A player from the NBA champion New York Knicks will also attend.
White says between 8,000 and 10,000 will fill the Cinquantenaire Park for a lavish celebration of American independence, a week ahead of the July 4th anniversary. "We'll far surpass what we imagined," White says proudly.
There have been issues with the concert. Katy Perry declined to perform and Nile Rodgers pulled out. One singer who will be there, Alexis Wilkins, is best known as the girlfriend of embattled FBI Director Kash Patel. The replacement headliner, singer Zach Bryan, is virtually unknown in Europe, but White is thrilled he will perform.
Mockup of Sunday's event in Cinquantenaire Park. Credit: Supplied by United States Embassy to Belgium
A cheerleader for Trump
Yet it is not the scale of the party that is most striking. It is the ambassador's extraordinary certainty that Donald Trump is succeeding on every front – and that Europeans either secretly agree or simply fail to understand what is happening.
Few diplomats in Brussels would recognise the picture he paints.
His world is one in which relations between Europe and the United States are getting stronger, not weaker. A world in which Trump's attacks on allies are evidence of friendship. A world in which growing European doubts about American reliability are largely media inventions. A world in which critics of the president are either dishonest, foolish or suffering from a psychological disorder.
Most ambassadors are advocates for their governments. That is their job. White has supercharged that role, wading into domestic politics, notably claiming that Belgium’s health and safety investigation into Jewish ritual circumcision infringes religious liberty.
But when it comes to cheerleading his president, he cranks up the volume to 11.
Asked whether relations between Europe and the United States are better or worse than they were a year ago, he does not hesitate. "I actually think it's better now than it was."
US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White and Prime Minister Bart De Wever pictured during the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Flanders Field American Cemetery, in Waregem, Sunday 24 May 2026. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
European scepticism
European leaders, however, have openly questioned whether the United States remains a reliable partner. Governments across the continent are debating strategic autonomy, reducing dependence on American defence guarantees and preparing for a future in which Washington may be less committed to European security.
Public opinion has moved firmly in the same direction. Polling consistently shows Trump is deeply unpopular across Europe, including in Belgium. Concerns over Ukraine, tariffs, NATO and Trump's rhetoric have pushed confidence in the United States to some of its lowest levels in decades.
White rejects the premise. "A lot of Belgians are very happy with America right now," he insists.
He then reels off a series of US business deals with Belgium, including a planned co-production between Liège-based gun-maker FN Browning and US arms-maker Raytheon to build parts of AMRAAM missiles here.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever, King Philippe of Belgium, US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the 2026 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Wednesday, 21 January 2026. Credit: Belga/Belgian Royal Palace
His conversations with Trump about Belgium have focused on energy. He expects Belgium to become a hub for US liquefied natural gas and argues that Westinghouse should win the contract to renew the country's nuclear reactors.
However, he refuses to countenance suggestions that Trump's rhetoric has damaged America's image in Europe. Instead, he argues that Europeans respect the president's blunt language.
"Donald Trump may not be the person that speaks to them the way they're used to politicians speaking to them," White says. "But they respect him because he's consistent."
The ambassador repeatedly returns to a central theme: Europeans focus too much on Trump's words and not enough on what White sees as successful outcomes.
'I don't like any criticism of President Trump'
He advises European leaders to stop complaining and start accommodating him. "Try to find a way to work with him," he says. "He's the president of the United States. Just try to focus on making deals with him, because he is very interested in making deals. He's not interested in fighting, honestly.”
White refuses to entertain criticism of Trump under any circumstances. "I don't like any criticism of President Trump,” he says.
Asked whether there is anything Trump could do that would go too far, the answer is equally emphatic. "No, there's not."
Indeed, White doubles down, offering an unusual defence of his unconditional support for Trump.
"He got re-elected at almost eight million votes," he says.
The claim is patently wrong. Trump won the popular vote in 2024 by around 2.3 million votes, not eight million. The margin was significant, but nowhere near what White suggests.
The error is striking because it reflects a broader theme of the conversation: facts and events that cast Trump in a less favourable light are repeatedly reinterpreted as evidence of success.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump pictured during a summit of the NATO military alliance, Wednesday 25 June 2025, in The Hague, The Netherlands. Credit: Belga/Eric Lalmand
Trump's pressure on NATO allies becomes evidence of statesmanship. His threats against Greenland become “a misunderstanding.” His attacks on European leaders become examples of productive negotiation. His hostility towards longstanding allies becomes proof of friendship.
The most striking example concerns NATO spending. White argues that Trump's confrontational approach has transformed the alliance. "The money that President Trump has raised for NATO, Mark Rutte told me, is almost a trillion dollars."
White credits Trump with Europe's surge in defence spending. Yet much of that increase followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine and growing fears about European security.
Yet in White's telling, Trump deserves the credit. "He had to really be strong and offer that tough love," the ambassador says.
Tough love – or bullying?
"Tough love" is a phrase that appears repeatedly during the interview. It serves as a catch-all justification for behaviour that many Europeans view as bullying.
The same logic extends to Ukraine. At a time when European leaders fear Washington may be drifting away from Kyiv, White insists Trump would have prevented Russia's invasion had he been president in 2022: "That would have never happened with Trump ever."
The statement is impossible to prove – but White treats it as self-evident fact.
Challenged about whether Europeans share that belief, his response is vitriolic. "Anybody who doesn't believe it is a moron," he says. "A moron or a liar."
It is a remarkable statement from a serving ambassador. By White's logic, many of Europe's political, military and diplomatic leaders do too.
European leaders worried about Ukraine? Morons or liars. Security analysts concerned about Trump's approach to Russia? Morons or liars.
White goes further still. Discussing Trump’s many critics, he invokes the familiar MAGA phrase "Trump derangement syndrome", describing it as "a medical condition".
"There is no cure," he says. It may be a joke. The humour is difficult to detect.
US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White. Credit: Belga
The ambassador's other side
There is another side to White. Away from politics, he is personable, energetic and genuinely enthusiastic about Belgium. He speaks warmly about NATO cooperation, future investment and wartime commemorations. Whether his absolutist defence of Trump reflects deep conviction, diplomatic loyalty or simple political theatre is unclear.
As thousands gather in the Cinquantenaire to celebrate 250 years of American democracy, they will be hosted by an ambassador whose view of Donald Trump — and of Europe's reaction to him — sits at odds with what many European leaders and voters are saying openly.
