The US State Department plans to fund think tanks and charities in Europe associated with the MAGA movement to spread Washingtonʼs political positions and counter "threats to free speech".
This is reported by the Financial Times, citing sources.
In December, senior State Department official Sarah Rogers was in Europe, where she visited influential right-wing think tanks and also discussed with representatives of Nigel Farageʼs populist British party Reform UK the possibility of using funds to spread American values, media sources say.
According to them, the funding is related to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of US independence this year.
This could cause concern among Washingtonʼs allies, especially center-left governments, including Labour in the UK, who could see it as an attempt to undermine their policies at the expense of American public funds.
The American official noted that the program is a modification of previous State Department initiatives to fund individual projects abroad and will likely focus on initiatives in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
Rogers’ efforts come amid criticism from the White House from traditional European allies. The US national security strategy, released last year, called for “developing resistance” to Europe’s current course and warned that mass migration and “censorship of free speech” could lead to “civilizational erasure”.
The Trump administration views European attempts to regulate online content, particularly on major American social networks, as a restriction on free speech.
A senior Reform UK official has said the US administration is “on a crusade to save Europe” and believes the UK is at risk from negative trends. The British government, for its part, defends the Online Safety Act as an important tool to protect children from harmful content.
Another Reform UK representative reported that Rogers allegedly has a “State Department fund” at his disposal to support MAGA-style initiatives and fund European organizations to oppose government policies.
A State Department spokesman called this funding “a transparent and legitimate use of resources to advance U.S. interests and values” and denied allegations of a “secret fund”.
At the same time, the Reform UK party itself fears too close an association with the MAGA movement, as the Trump administration has low popularity in the UK. According to YouGov, only about 16% of Britons have a positive view of Trump, while 81% have a negative view.
Rogers has been outspoken in her criticism of local online safety laws while traveling through Europe. In December, she visited London, Paris, Rome and Milan as part of a so-called free speech tour.
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