U.S. Pushing Allies to Combat 'Antifa and Far-Left Terrorism', Labels Them 'Political Terrorism Rather Than Mere Protest'

The Trump administration is pressing U.S. allies to treat antifa and other far-left movements as a counterterrorism priority, with a senior State Department official urging foreign counterparts to view such activity as "political terrorism rather than mere protest or criminality," according to a New York Times report based on internal documents and interviews with officials.

At a meeting in Ottawa last month focused on terrorism threats in light of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, Monica A. Jacobsen, a senior State Department counterterrorism official, told representatives from Europe, Canada and Australia that Washington wanted greater attention paid to what it sees as an underestimated threat from the far left.

Her prepared remarks, reviewed by The New York Times, said Western governments must combat "antifa and far-left terrorism" and defined that category broadly to include communists, Marxists, anarchists, anticapitalists, and those with "eco-extremist" or other antifascist ideologies.

The effort is part of a wider push led in part by Sebastian Gorka, the senior counterterrorism director on Trump's National Security Council, who has urged U.S. officials to identify links between foreign left-wing extremist groups and Americans. According to the Times, current and former officials fear the administration is trying to use international terrorism authorities to widen surveillance, investigations and possible prosecutions of activists in the United States.

The strategy builds on moves taken in November of last year when the State Department designated four leftist groups in Europe as terrorist organizations: two in Greece, one in Germany and one in Italy. Those actions followed Trump's September executive order labeling antifa a "domestic terrorist organization," though, as The New York Times noted at the time, no such designation exists under federal law and antifa is not a single organization with formal leadership or membership.

The administration's approach is also mirrored at the state level. In Florida this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law allowing state officials to designate domestic and foreign terrorist organizations. DeSantis said the measure was "the strongest action Florida has ever taken against terror" and suggested groups such as antifa could be targeted.

The State Department told the Times it is working with international partners to counter "antifa-aligned terrorism," including by targeting financing and travel. But some U.S. allies appear unconvinced. Greek officials have said antifa activists there have not engaged in terrorism, while German officials have downplayed the threat posed by one of the newly designated groups.

Under the Biden administration, officials described right-wing extremists, particularly white supremacists, as the leading domestic terrorism threat but Trump's team has instead redirected attention toward the far left, a move critics say risks politicizing national security tools at a time when intelligence agencies are also tracking threats linked to Iran and the Islamic State.