Europe is continuing to discover what happens when a continent that once stood at the pinnacle of civilization abandons the economic system that helped put it there.
This month, Elon Musk imposed speed and usage limits on Starlink and Starshield services for Ukraine, blindsiding the Ukrainian government and military, which were quick to blame the Trump administration. European powers have since voiced their displeasure, demanding that Musk lift the restrictions.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Vice President JD Vance was quick to bash the Europeans for strangling competitive industry at home, stifling the productivity of American companies operating in their countries, and then complaining when the businesses they depend on won’t do their bidding.
His criticism also points to a broader problem: Europe wants the benefits of a free market while rejecting the economic freedom that makes them possible.
.@VP: I find it a ittle ironic that European countries — who have nothing like the technology @elonmusk has developed in Starlink and have universally waged regulatory war against SpaceX — are all now running to SpaceX saying, 'Please do what we need you to do.' https://t.co/SVtqn9b6oe
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 22, 2026
"I think that fundamentally Elon Musk runs a private corporation, and I think it's completely understandable that he doesn't want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state actors without the United States government effectively directing him on what to do," the vice president said. "So I don't think this is about Elon, I think it's fundamentally what is America's policy in Ukraine and Russia going to be."
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"As I just said earlier, I think we're working on some renewed negotiations, but I do find it a little ironic that the European countries, who of course have nothing like the technology that Elon has developed in Starlink and Stargaze, and just all of the internet service technologies that he's developed with SpaceX, these countries have almost universally decided to wage regulatory and licensing war against SpaceX, and now they're all running to SpaceX saying, please do what we need you to do," Vance added. "I think this drives home one of the things the president has talked about for years, which is that European countries depend on American technology, American businesses, and the American military, while at the same time European political leaders love to bash the United States allies that they depend upon so much."
But it also points to something deeper: what happens when an entire continent largely abandons free-market principles in favor of a redistributionist, progressive economic model. Europe doesn’t rely on American businesses simply because they happen to be better than their European counterparts. It relies on them because the United States has maintained a semblance of economic freedom rather than sacrificing that freedom, and the productivity it enables, at the altar of the climate change gods.
Americans still care about more than redistribution. There is a reason the United States leads the world in technology, medical research, medical care, and productivity. It is not that Americans are inherently more productive. It is that we have embraced a system that rewards productivity: the free market.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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