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Tornado Trump rips diplomatic swathe across Europe

This article is more than 12 months old

Time will tell if US president has only strained or permanently sabotaged trans-Atlantic ties

HELSINKI: Mr Donald Trump was fired up.

When the US president set off for Europe a week ago he was bent on knocking heads with Washington's allies and finding friendship with Russia.

As he flew homewards after Monday's summit with President Vladimir Putin, the final repercussions of his diplomatic rampage were not yet clear.

"Mr Trump's trip to Europe is the single most chaotic and destructive by an American president," diplomat turned professor Nicholas Burns lamented.

"American credibility has been diminished," he warned.

After his activity in Brussels through London to Helsinki, only time will tell whether Mr Trump has only strained or permanently sabotaged trans-Atlantic ties.

But there is one immediate conclusion to be drawn. No-one, not even Mr Trump's most senior advisers and cabinet members, carries much weight with the commander-in-chief.

Mr Trump's approach to any foreign policy challenge will be guided by his longstanding views or his perception of what his nationalist base most desires.

The carnage began with a simple Brussels breakfast during the Nato summit.

Member states were braced for Mr Trump to be irascible about defence spending, but not the vitriol with which he launched into them .

As Trump's advisers averted their gaze, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Germany was declared to be "captive to Russia" because of her increasing reliance on Russian gas supplies.Later, when he started boasting of his "very good relationship" with Dr Merkel, the damage was done.

The next day, Mr Trump boasted - incorrectly it later turned out - that the Nato allies had agreed to increase spending more quickly.

European leaders explained that they had only reaffirmed their existing vow to spend two per cent of their respective GDPs on defence by 2024.

Before he arrived in London, Mr Trump told The Sun newspaper about his opinion of British Prime Minister Theresa May's approach to Brexit.

"I actually told Mrs Theresa May how to do it but she didn't agree, she didn't listen to me. She wanted to go a different route."

Even some supporters of Trump's no-nonsense approach to US allies were surprised that he kicked off a visit to Britain by attacking Mrs May.

Mrs May put a brave face on the snub, and later revealed that he had urged her to sue the European Union, a quixotic way to seek a trade deal.

Mr Trump alternated denials and defiance, and it was not clear whether he really had meant to weaken Mrs May.

But it was clear that he had not impressed his hosts, and that if the vaunted special relationship continues, it is no thanks to any alliance management by the president.

Mr Trump had boasted that his first summit with Mr Putin would be the easiest stage of his trip, despite the historic enmity between the two nations and current tensions.

But, he bungled his joint news conference with Mr Putin and left even reliable cheerleaders on Fox News and in Congress sputtering that he had taken the Kremlin chief's side over US intelligence.

Perhaps at this late stage, his unique approach to diplomacy finally failed Mr Trump, as his inability to accept that Moscow may have intervened illicitly to promote his 2016 election has created a firestorm back home. - AFP

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