Donald Trump Is Doing Putin's Work in Ruining U.S. Alliances, Says Ex-Envoy to Moscow
President Donald Trump is outdoing the Kremlin in spoiling U.S. alliances around the world, a former envoy to Moscow has said ahead of a global summit with disgruntled foreign leaders.
Trump is set to attend the first G7 summit since his administration controversially imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and Washington's closest allies in Europe, despite protest from the leaders of all involved and against the advice of U.S. senators from both parties. The move was one of the clearest signs yet that the Trump administration does not stand by commitments to U.S. partners made by generations of previous presidents.
One person who will be gleefully watching the deepening of a self-inflicted schism between the U.S. and its friends overseas is a man who is no longer invited to these summits—Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Washington's ex-envoy to Moscow, Michael McFaul.
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"Putin has to do nothing to undermine the alliances and international institutions that helped to advance American security and prosperity for the last several decades," McFaul wrote on Twitter. "Trump is doing all the work for him."
Heading into the summit, Trump has entered into a Twitter spat with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of host nation Canada and President Emmanuel Macron of France, as the latter warned that he risks "being isolated."
Trump will apparently leave the summit early, mirroring Putin's premature departure from the G20 in 2014, after a frosty reception from other leaders, opposed to his destabilizing actions in Ukraine. The Russian leader has also been excluded from the G8 ever since, hence why this week's summit is a G7.
"I can't remember a more tense run up to a G-7 summit, usually a moment for unity and demonstration of American leadership," McFaul added on Twitter. "Am I forgetting some other difficult times in the G-7's history?"
The tariff dispute, which U.S. senators have said could result in a "trade war" between the U.S. and its allies, is the latest cause for conflict between the Trump administration on one side and Europe and Canada on the other.
Trump has already made good on his promise to pull out of a marquee, nuclear deal with Iran, brokered by his predecessor President Barack Obama with help from the E.U. Canada and U.S. allies in Europe have also vowed to uphold the Paris climate accord—an international agreement to curb carbon emissions, in which Trump also ended U.S. participation.
