President Donald Trump has said the U.S. could "leave" Europe after blaming immigrants, religious extremists and left-wing groups for widespread riots that have broken out across multiple French cities in recent days.
It's not clear what the president meant by those remarks, and the White House has been approached for comment via email. The comments nevertheless reflected a broader argument from the administration that Europe's problems are becoming deeper and more difficult to ignore.
Curfews came into force in central Paris and in a run of other French hubs on Monday as hundreds of thousands of protesters spilled out into the streets to decry soaring living costs, spiraling into bursts of violence and ransacking of clothes, food, and technology stores.
Buildings were sit alight, with one blaze ripping through the town hall of the central city of Limoges, partially collapsing the roof. More than 2,000 people were arrested over the weekend as French President Emmanuel Macron appealed for calm.
"A once-great nation that is being conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and Communists who hate Christianity, and Western Civilization, itself," Trump said in a post to his Truth Social platform on Monday.
Trump claimed left-wing politicians had "treasonously imported millions of Third World Migrants who are totally incompatible with Western Values, and despise everything that makes France great."
Trump tied the disorder in Europe to the looming midterm vote as the Republicans contend with ballooning fuel costs, sinking approval ratings and the unpopularity of the ongoing Iran war.
"If you want to see what is at stake in this Election, just look at what is happening in France," the president said.
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French officials blamed far-left organizations for fanning demonstrations that started as student-led protests against declining education and high everyday prices. Macron said hard-left activists had been "joined by numerous criminals."
"Europe has to CLOSE THEIR BORDERS, and get out the people who hate their countries, and get them out FAST, before it is too late!" Trump said.
"We stand with Europe, despite its flaws, its weaknesses and, hopefully, its temporary loss of direction. But if they don’t soon find their way, we will have no choice but to leave," Trump added.
The wording was vague but the warning echoed themes that have appeared repeatedly in policy documents, social-media posts, and speeches by senior Trump officials.
The president and members of his administration have pointed towards immigration and economic stagnation as among the mounting pressures facing Europe that have led Washington to question the continent's future path.
Those concerns also include defense spending. Several European governments have pledged substantial increases in that area amid growing security threats, but many are grappling with aging populations and rising welfare costs alongside sluggish economic growth, leaving their commitment to defense spending an open-ended question.
Trump has long pledged to draw down the tens of thousands of American troops deployed in Europe as part of a push to force continental nations to lean less on the U.S.'s extensive military presence, freeing up the U.S. to shift its focus toward China and the Indo-Pacific.
But despite an ongoing Pentagon review into America's military footprint in Europe—which sparked some panic in the European capitals close to Russian soil, fearful of an attack by Moscow—the language of Trump's statement mirrors themes in the White House's national security strategy.
The document, published in November 2025 as official policy, said Europe was at risk of "civilizational erasure," which the administration attributed in part to "migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife."
It was widely rebuked in Europe, and one top French official called the document a "brutal clarification" of the U.S.'s stance toward Europe. Supporters argued the issues have become impossible for Europe's mainstream parties to ignore.
The strategy pledged explicit U.S. support for the administration's "political allies in Europe," and praised the " growing influence of patriotic European parties.
European centrist parties, attempting to pull voters back from their growing right-wing opposition, have often toughened up their stances on immigration, which has spiked in some European countries in recent years following conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Vice President JD Vance met Alice Weidel, the leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) party in early 2025, as he delivered a blistering attack on Europe and warned of what he called the "threat from within."
Vance described the riots rippling through France as a result of "Western liberals" who "ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility" by encouraging immigration.
Trump officials have endorsed Marine Le Pen, the leader of the hard-right National Rally in France. Jordan Bardella, another senior official in that party, has cast the riots as a result of immigration.
The unrest in France, then, appears to connect several themes the Trump administration has been focused on: immigration, economic strain, and security. Whether or not the president's latest remarks signal a policy shift or are simply a rhetorical broadside remains unclear.