The past period of Donald Trump’s presidency have revealed that the U.S. policies towards Europe are driven in some cases by competitive motives and pursue inconsistent interests. On the one hand, the U.S. strives to consolidate the ranks of the European allies in efforts to achieve its goals with regard to such countries as Russia, China, Iran, or Venezuela. On the other hand, Washington tries to take advantage of intra-European controversies in issues like energy security or an exterritorial application of the U.S. law. Moreover, the Trump administration is opposed to the EU on a number of crucial issues of international politics and global economy ranging from the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 (JCPOA) and the Paris agreement on climate change to an overhaul of the WTO and globalization. The deep-seated divergences between them have reached an unprecedented level in the history of the transatlantic relationship. Still, it would be an oversimplification to link this conflict of values and polices to personal inclinations and mindset of the 45th U.S. President. Trump’s agenda of making ‘America Great Again’ corresponds with perceptions of a rather wide conservative segment of American society which supports him. However, his aggressive style of pushing ‘America First’ priorities abroad narrows opportunities for reaching consensus with the European partners. ‘The Trump challenge’ prompts the EU to revisit its concept of ‘strategic autonomy’ and to revitalize its attempts to boost European defense cooperation through the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) option provided by the Lisbon Treaty.