Plans by the Donald Trump administration to fund right-wing groups in Europe have been slammed by policymakers and campaigners as an effort to “usurp European democracy”.

According to the Financial Times, the U.S. State Department plans to bankroll think tanks and charities in the UK and Europe which share President Trump’s agenda, with particular focus on blocking attempts to regulate U.S. social media platforms.

Daniel Freund, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Greens, told DeSmog that the funding had “one clear aim: to divide and destabilise Europe.”

“We must clearly name, criticise, and reject such foreign interference,” he added.

Sarah Rogers, U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, is leading this effort, having visited the UK, France, and Italy in early December.

Her visit coincided with the publication of a new U.S. national security strategy, which called for “cultivating resistance” in Europe to liberal, democratic politics.

“The U.S. has a long history of covert manipulation of politics across the globe. But to see it happen in Europe is new, and we should be worried,” said Kenneth Haar of the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory. “Big Tech regulation is set to be the first testing ground of the new American way of imposing their will on Europe.”

The new U.S. fund would be the latest attempt by Trump and his allies to thwart EU regulations. DeSmog last week reported on a gathering of pro-Trump groups in the European Parliament, during which they turned their fire on the EU’s Digital Safety Act, which aims to tackle the harms caused by social media.

Trump was re-elected in November 2024 following a $270 million donation from the owner of social media platform X Elon Musk, and received $1 million each from the heads of Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon for his inauguration fund.

The event in Brussels was attended by the Heritage Foundation, the radical right-wing think tank which drafted Project 2025 – the authoritarian, anti-climate blueprint for Trump’s second term.

The Heritage Foundation has been one of the key MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) groups attempting to influence European politics since Trump’s re-election.

As reported by DeSmog, the group gathered hardline conservative groups last year to discuss ideas for dismantling the EU. It also attempted to influence Albania’s election in favour of its conservative candidate in May 2025.

The group has been joined by the Heartland Institute, which has been leading the campaign to spread climate science denial across the UK and EU. The group claims to be advising Nigel Farage’s anti-climate party Reform UK, while it has been forging alliances with far-right parties and campaigners in an attempt to gain a foothold in Europe.

Both groups lobbied aggressively – and successfully – for the dilution of EU laws designed to hold large companies, including U.S. firms, to account for their environmental impacts. They also forcefully oppose the EU’s digital safety laws.

Raphael Kergueno, senior policy officer at Transparency International, said that the new pro-Trump fund adds to growing concern about MAGA’s influence over EU laws. 

“Transparency loopholes are allowing the MAGA movement’s illiberal organisations to usurp European democracy from the inside,” he said. “As a matter of urgency, the rules must be changed to compel them to register on the EU’s lobby register and declare their funding, so that their blatant attempts to bring authoritarianism to Europe can be scrutinised, and thwarted.”

Patrick ten Brink, secretary-general of the European Environmental Bureau, added: “The reporting in the Financial Times confirms what many civil society organisations have been warning about for some time: there is a coordinated effort to import US-style culture-war politics into Europe, using funding, think-tanks and so-called ‘charitable’ fronts to weaken democratic safeguards.

“Europe’s response should be clear-eyed and proportionate. Defending transparency, independent NGOs and evidence-based policymaking is essential to the EU’s democratic resilience and its ability to govern in the public interest. EU policymakers should take care not to weaken environmental and social protections or undermine public well-being in ways that ultimately serve external deregulation agendas.”

MAGA UK

MAGA’s influence is also being felt in the UK, where climate and digital safety regulations are likewise under fire.

Farage is a close Trump ally, stating repeatedly that he is the “bravest man”.

The Reform leader has also been helping to import the architects of Trump’s agenda into the UK, having urged the Heartland Institute to set up a branch in the UK and Europe.

As revealed by DeSmog, Farage has received £150,000 from his donors to attend pro-Trump events or cheerlead for his agenda since he was elected to Parliament in July 2024.

A new Reform-linked think tank, the Centre for a Better Britain, was launched last year by James Orr, a close friend of U.S. vice president J.D. Vance and now a senior Reform advisor. The Centre for a Better Britain, set up by Reform donors, is reportedly seeking to raise millions from Trump backers.

During her visit to the UK in December, head of the new U.S. fund, Sarah Rogers, was hosted at an event by the Prosperity Institute (formerly Legatum Institute). The conservative think tank is run by UAE-based investment firm Legatum Group, which co-owns right-wing broadcaster GB News, Farage’s principal employer.

The event related to the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which requires U.S. social media companies to remove illegal content such as child pornography. Along with the EU’s DSA, the OSA has been attacked by the Trump administration for what it calls the “censorship” of Americans’ free speech.

Rogers spoke at the event alongside Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, and Conservative peer Toby Young, who runs the Free Speech Union, a conservative pressure group.

It is not clear which groups Rogers met with in France or Italy. In Washington D.C. in December she hosted Markus Frohnmaier, a Member of the German Parliament for the far-right Alternative für Deutchland (AfD) party, according to a post she shared on social media platform X.

The Legatum Group also helps to run the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), a radical right-wing network group led by Canadian activist Jordan Peterson. ARC has been a key platform for MAGA figures and far-right European politicians, with its latest London conference planned for this summer. 

Speakers at ARC events have included U.S. energy secretary Chris Wright, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson, and Republican donor and Palantir founder Peter Thiel. Last year’s ARC event in London was also attended by several oil and gas executives.

“It is time to consider what can be done legally,” Haar of Corporate Europe Observatory said. “When it comes to China or Russia, there are measures in place to defend the public from undue influence. We really need to figure out quickly how the American threat can be handled effectively. 

Dieter Plehwe, an academic at the Berlin Social Science Center likewise called for stronger transparency laws, stating: “It would be wise to increase the opportunities for investigative journalists, academic researchers and the public at large to understand who is behind think tank and media campaigns.”