From what I observed at a recent gathering, the two camps resemble one another in numerous respects, though a handful of important distinctions stand out.
From April 24 to 26, I took part in LibertyCon Europe 2026, the principal annual gathering for libertarian students and scholars across Europe, hosted this year in Madrid. I was invited to deliver two talks, marking my first attendance since 2014. I spoke with a wide range of students, researchers, and activists who attended, gaining a clearer picture of where European libertarians—often identifying themselves as “classical liberals”—stand at this pivotal moment in history. It was instructive to compare their views with those of their American counterparts.
Unsurprisingly, the two movements share a substantial overlap in viewpoints and priorities. Much of what I experienced at LibertyCon Europe resembled what one might expect at a comparable U.S. gathering. For instance, libertarians on both sides of the Atlantic are deeply concerned about oversized government spending, growing regulatory encroachment, attempts to restrict access to various websites (frequently framed as child protection measures), protectionist trade policies, and more. The flow of influence between American and European libertarians has been mutual, with each side shaping the other. As the renowned Austrian libertarian economist F.A. Hayek remarked, “The growth of ideas is an international process.”
There are, however, several notable differences. Foremost among them is the near-universal European libertarian disdain for Donald Trump and his administration. A large majority of American libertarians share this sentiment, yet there exists a substantial faction in the U.S. that adheres to an “anti-anti Trump” position—arguing that Trump is flawed but still preferable to his opponents, or at least no worse than them—and a smaller but vocal cohort that actively supports Trump.
Among European libertarians, these latter two camps are nearly absent. At the conference, a number of Europeans asked whether I believed Trump to be the worst-ever U.S. president. I replied that he is making a strong run for that distinction, but has not yet surpassed figures like Woodrow Wilson and Andrew Johnson, and perhaps two or three others. Regardless of the verdict, the sheer frequency of the question was striking.
Perhaps this is not entirely surprising. Trump promotes an American variant of nationalist ideology, and non-Americans are inherently less inclined to sympathize with American nationalism. That said, the European libertarians I met also hold highly negative views of right-wing nationalist parties in their own countries—such as Germany’s AfD or France’s National Rally (formerly the National Front)—and were pleased by the recent electoral defeats of similar figures, including Viktor Orban in Hungary. Orban’s regime embodied many of the drawbacks of nationalism and was admired by “national conservatives” and “postliberals” in the U.S. and across Europe.
On average, European libertarians appear more attuned to the dangers of nationalism than their American peers. One of my conference talks addressed how nationalism has become the most significant threat to economic liberty in most of the world, a role once dominated by socialism. Afterward, nearly everyone who discussed the subject with me concurred, with only one Scandinavian academic dissenting. The same presentation would likely have drawn considerably more opposition from U.S. libertarians.
There may be reasons for this gap between U.S. and European libertarians, though not all are clear. One plausible factor is Europe’s grim historical experience with nationalism, which makes libertarians there more alert to its perils. Those dangers are indeed profound, as Alex Nowrasteh and I argued in our 2024 piece, “The Case Against Nationalism.”
Another notable divergence concerns Ukraine. European libertarians overwhelmingly back Ukraine in its conflict with Russia and generally favor Western aid to Kyiv. By contrast, many American libertarians oppose such assistance on quasi-isolationist grounds, though not all do. Some advocate foreign policy “realism,” which posits little practical difference between the policies of liberal democracies and dictatorships. Such viewpoints are rare among European libertarians. One European participant contended that the isolationist stance of American libertarians on security policy is not rooted in libertarian doctrine but rather in America’s geographical separation from other powerful nations by two oceans.
Like the Trump and nationalism issue, I find myself largely aligned with the Europeans on Ukraine. In prior writings, I argued for Western support for Ukraine and against libertarian neo-isolationism in general.
Part of the European-American split over Ukraine can be traced to the particular histories of individual nations. A number of conference attendees hailed from Eastern European states such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which endured occupation and oppression by the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, or both. This historical memory naturally fuels today’s distrust of Russian aggression. Yet it’s notable that most Western Europeans at the gathering held positions that did not diverge markedly from their eastern counterparts on this issue.
A third major distinction concerns constitutional questions. Many American libertarians dedicate substantial time to constitutional matters, and several groups have advanced their causes through constitutional litigation—examples include the Institute for Justice and the Pacific Legal Foundation. These options seem largely absent on the radar of many European libertarians.
Indeed, nearly the only presentation at the conference that focused extensively on constitutional litigation was my own talk about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down Trump’s tariffs in a case I helped litigate. As I noted toward the end of my talk, I believe European libertarians are overlooking potentially valuable opportunities. Both the European Convention on Human Rights and the constitutions of multiple European nations include provisions that could protect property rights and economic liberties, and libertarians could leverage them more effectively. They could also make use of federalism and checks and balances embedded in those documents. Some economic-interest groups have successfully employed pro-market strategic litigation in Europe, but libertarians have not done so to the same extent. Rasheed Griffith, a Mercatus Center scholar based in Europe, delivered similar recommendations on an economics regulation panel, urging Europeans to embrace constitutional litigation more readily.
Of course, Europeans should not be expected to use identical arguments to those deployed in U.S. courts. Nevertheless, they should not disregard opportunities to pursue constitutional litigation to advance freedom. Litigation alone rarely yields complete reform, but it remains a powerful instrument, especially when paired with political action. While there is much to learn from Europeans on the first two contrasting points discussed, the reverse is true on this matter.
The above sketch is far from a full account of everything I observed and heard at the conference, nor is it a complete comparison of American and European libertarians. Yet the three contrasts highlighted here struck me as particularly salient.
The last time I spoke at a LibertyCon Europe conference—back in 2014—I heard a talk by the eminent Swedish libertarian Johan Norberg (who is now a colleague of mine at the Cato Institute). He argued that Europe is both the greatest and the worst continent. It is the greatest because it produced Enlightenment liberalism, the set of ideas that unleashed unprecedented freedom and prosperity for much of the world, including the United States. It is the worst because it also gave rise to socialism and fascism, the sources of enormous oppression, poverty, and mass murder. Fascism, of course, is a starkly ugly variant of nationalism, an ideology that also originated in Europe.
My hope is that the good Europe contributed to the world can ultimately triumph over the bad. Libertarians on both sides of the Atlantic should join forces to help ensure that outcome.
