LONDON — The U.K. has an opportunity to take the lead on Europe’s relationship with Donald Trump, as France and Germany continue to grapple with political instability on the eve of his return to the White House, U.S. ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley said.

Though Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration has endured a “rocky” start, the U.K. is best placed given its relative stability compared to other major European economies in NATO, Hartley told Bloomberg’s Women, Money and Power conference. Trump has repeatedly called on Europe to step up contributions to NATO, which Hartley said she thinks European nations will do.

“I think Europe will pay more into NATO — there is some worry about some of the bigger countries in Europe,” she said on Tuesday. “We need the U.K. to lead, because, as we know we’ve seen a lot of political instability in France and Germany — so the U..K has to play a role.”

Starmer’s government has said it wants to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, though it has not set out a time frame for doing so.

Hartley, who was President Joe Biden’s appointment in London, said Trump will want to achieve ‘wins’ early in his administration due to his transactional style, though she’s not sure how that will shape into a deal for Ukraine, where he’s promised to end the conflict when he enters office in January.

She also said Trump will likely be wary about any adverse market reaction to his plan to rapidly increase tariffs on goods entering the US.

“Trump is going to care about what markets do,” the outgoing envoy said. “How certain things are curbed because of that, like tariffs, I don’t know.”

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