We've seen a range of disputes. They include those over economic matters, such as the treatment of American technology companies in European markets, disagreements about military spending, such as the need for our allies to meet their existing NATO commitments, an occasional lack of a common approach to adversaries such as Iran and unhappiness with a series of rulings by the European Court of Justice that have upended political agreements between the U.S. and the E.U. on privacy standards.
Recent polling, however, indicates that the alliance may be stronger than we think, and that citizens in the United States and Europe share common views on the single most important geopolitical threat facing our alliance: the rise of China. And this evidence of shared values comes at a particularly good time, given the Biden administration's recent announcement of a key initiative to work with our European allies on responding to China and the ongoing need for the transatlantic alliance to serve as a backstop against the very real Chinese threat.
