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President Trump will disembark in Europe next week, fearing to blow up a summit on European defense, and then make concessions to the main opponent of NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin
. rooted in Trump's combative approach to foreign policy. In recent days, Trump told senior officials that he wanted to cut US spending on Europe's defense if the allies did not want to contribute more to NATO, said a senior official. of the administration
. In the long history that underlies American alliances or the collective foreign policy expertise of the US government, according to current and former American and European officials.
He relies instead on his instincts and his ability to form personal ties with world leaders. . White House officials praise the president's willingness to question long-held badumptions and challenge American allies, who have been lying in security for decades, to contribute more to their own defense
. see in Trump someone ready to forgive sins in the pursuit of an agreement, officials said. And he alarmed the allies and some of Trump's closest badociates, who fear that he will yield on issues such as the annexation of Crimea by Russia and its continued destabilization of Ukraine .
Even though his administration imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow and expelled Russian diplomats, Trump avoided criticizing Putin. He will meet Putin in Helsinki on July 16th.
[Trump, a reluctant hawk, has battled his aides on Russia]
"The President thinks he can be friends with Putin," said former National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, during his visit to the White House. "I do not know why or why he wants to be."
The president's approach has also been corrosive for relations with allies who believe more and more that Trump's trade, NATO and diplomacy undermine the post-war era. II Order in pursuit of short-term victories – and probably illusory –
During an April visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House, frustrated Trump sharply criticized British Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor German Angela Merkel, US and European officials said. Asked about his comments, the president in a statement to the Washington Post said that "immigration is destroying Europe as we know it and it is very sad to witness what happens" .
Donald Tusk "The capricious affirmation" and warned that the countries of the European Union must prepare for "worst case scenarios." Trump, for one, often tells European leaders how he hates the European Union – and how it is "worse than China". In the days leading up to the summit, the president and his team sent mixed messages. NATO Ambbadador Kay Bailey Hutchinson has emphasized the positive, boasting the highest increases in defense spending by Allies since the end of the Cold War. US Ambbadador to Russia Jon Huntsman has promised that Trump "will continue to hold Russia accountable for its malicious activity."
Trump, by contrast, emphasized the grievances. "I'm going to tell NATO – you have to start paying your bills," he said at a rally this week in Montana. "They are killing us on the trade They are killing us on other things … And in addition, they have killed us with NATO." And he defended Putin, the caller " well "at the event.
This report is based on interviews with US and European officials who spoke about the condition of anonymity. Trump's deliberations and interactions with world leaders. The core of Trump's freewheeling approach has been in place since his early days at the White House. Shortly after taking office, Trump began distributing his personal cell phone number to a handful of foreign executives. In April 2017, White House officials were surprised when Canadian officials published a standard summary of a conversation between Prime Minister Trudeau and Trump. In this document, Trudeau complained of "unfair duties" and "unfounded" claims regarding the trade of Trump administration officials.
Nobody in the White House was aware that the call had taken place. "We had no idea what had happened," said a senior US official
. In general, such calls, even with close allies, are choreographed business. Regional experts prepare discussion points covering the wide range of issues that may be raised. The National Security Advisor will inform the President prior to the call and will remain by his side to give his opinion. After the call, a transcript is distributed to key badistants who will publish a public reading.
In this case, US officials had to rely on Trump's memory. After the call, White House aides urged Trump to route all conversations with foreign leaders through the situation room, as required by the Federal Records Act, said the senior official .
Trump's lack of preparation has added an extra layer of unpredictability to his interactions with foreign leaders, officials said. The president rarely reads his nightly information book, which focuses on issues likely to be raised in meetings, said a second senior US official. To ease Trump's workload, badistants sometimes put the most critical information in a red folder, the official said.
In November and again in March, Trump invited Putin to the White House for a summit against the advice of the badistants. He argued that the chances of progress on the substantive issues were slim.
For Trump, the meeting was the point. In an interview with Fox News last month, Trump speculated that he and Putin could potentially trick solutions to Syria and Ukraine over dinner.
"I could say," Would you do me a favor? Do you want to get out of Syria? "Said Trump." Can you do me a favor? Do you want to get out of Ukraine?
Some White House officials are worried that Putin, who has made several calls with Trump, is playing on the President's inexperience and lack of detailed knowledge of the issues while fueling Trump's grievances . complains about Trump's "false news" and deplores that the US foreign policy establishment – the "deep state" in Putin's words – conspires against them, said the first high US manager: "This is not us". Trump, the official summary. In his conversations with Trudeau, May and Merkel, Trump is sometimes authoritarian, stigmatizing and even intimidating on issues that are of great concern to him, such as trade, according to senior US officials. He leads the conversation and does not hesitate to cut the allies in the middle of the sentence to badert his point of view, officials say.
With Putin, Trump takes a more conciliatory approach, often treating the Russian leader as a confidant. "So, what do you think I should do with North Korea?", He asked Putin during his phone call in November 2017, according to US officials. Some of these officials viewed the request for advice as naive – a sign that Trump believes the two countries are partners in the effort to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. Other officials have described Trump's request as a cunning effort to flatter and win the Russian leader whose country is bordering North Korea and has long been involved in the diplomacy of his nuclear program
. cooperate with the US military on counterterrorism and help Trump achieve his goal of a US withdrawal.
The more hawkish current of Trump and his former advisers, including McMaster, deny Putin's offer as a cynical ploy and argue that Russia's main goal is to support the Syrian president's regime Bashar al-Assad and, more broadly,
The Pentagon also considers Russia's proposal with similar skepticism, US officials said
Before the NATO summit, European leaders leaned on how to avoid a repeat of the Trump meeting arrived late, left early and refused to sign a customary joint declaration with other leaders.
Guiding almost all Trump's interactions with world leaders is his belief that his ability to seduce, seduce and coax foreign leaders is more important than the details of politics or the advancement of strategic goals. Often, calls can be discursive and disconcerting. In conversations with the British Prime Minister, he boasted about his properties in the UK, questioned him about the performance of his officials and sometimes lambasted him for being too "politically correct ", according to US and British officials. from a meeting earlier this year with the Swedes, who are important interlocutors on North Korea, on complaints about the trade deficit, surprising the visiting Prime Minister; the United States does not have a big trade deficit with Sweden compared to other European countries.
On one point, Trump was consistent: he rarely ends a call with a head of state without inviting to the White House. "Next time you're in Washington, stop for lunch at the White House," he says often, according to US officials.
He made this offer when his advisers urged him not to do so. Such was the case of Putin and Michel Temer, the president of Brazil who was overwhelmed by accusations of corruption and deeply unpopular when Trump spoke with him last fall.
Before the call, the badistants had urged him to the White House. Trump did it anyway. The White House badistants spent the following weeks dodging the calls of the Brazilian ambbadador who was trying to set up the meeting.
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