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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTo our allies dismay, Donald Trump appears lost in Europe
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/our-allies-dismay-donald-trump-appears-lost-europe?cid=sm_fb_maddow
To our allies dismay, Donald Trump appears lost in Europe
05/26/17 09:29 AMUpdated 05/26/17 01:55 PM
By Steve Benen
A couple of months ago, at a White House press conference alongside Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, Donald Trump whined at some length about U.S. trade deals with Germany. Right now, I would say that the negotiators for Germany have done a far better job than the negotiators for the United States, the American president complained. But hopefully we can even it out.
Despite focusing on trade policy for two years, Trump apparently did not realize that Germany, as an EU member, does not make individual trade deals with the United States. He also didnt brush up on this fairly obvious fact before welcoming the German leader to the White House.
A month later, a senior German official told The Times of London that Trump asked Merkel 10 times about negotiating a trade deal. According to the official, she replied every time, You cant do a trade deal with Germany, only the EU. The official added, On the eleventh refusal, Trump finally got the message.
Im not at all sure thats true. Consider this Slate report from yesterday:
Donald Trump had some tough words for the Germans at the NATO summit in Belgium on Thursday. The Germans are bad, very bad, he reportedly told Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union. Look at the millions of cars that theyre selling in the USA. Horrible. Were gonna stop that.
It is certainly true that Germany runs a big trade surplus with the world and with the United States
. But Trump cant stop the German cars from coming in to the U.S. because, to a large degree, theyre already here
. Trump could try to stop the sales of German cars in the U.S. But that would involve shutting down a bunch of factories on American soil that employ American workers and use a lot of U.S.-produced parts. Yes, that would be bad very bad.
Yesterday was not a successful day for the amateur president. European leaders went out of their way to try to accommodate Trump and his, shall we say, unique qualities, but he managed to alienate many of Americas closest allies anyway. There was the cringe-worthy shove of Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic. There was the equally embarrassing handshake with French President Emmanuel Macron. There was the speech in which Trump chose not to explicitly endorse his commitment to Article V of the NATO treaty, despite expectations.
But in the end, what struck me as the most significant development was Trumps brazen ignorance.
The fact that the U.S. president still doesnt understand trade with German is a striking example, but lets also consider this portion of the prepared speech he delivered in Brussels:
I have been very, very direct with Secretary Stoltenberg and members of the Alliance in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, for 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what theyre supposed to be paying for their defense.
This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years.
Trump, in other words, still doesnt know how NATO works. Member nations are expected to devote a portion of their annual budgets to defense spending plenty of previous American presidents have also urged NATO allies to increase their investments but for countries that havent reached their threshold, the target dates dont arrive until 2024.
Even putting this aside, its not as if member nations receive a bill every year from Washington, D.C. For Trump to say our allies owe massive amounts of money is plainly absurd.
But in a broader context, what domestic observers need to consider is why the American president feels so comfortable cozying up to authoritarian regimes, while pushing away our allies in Europe that have created a pillar for global stability for generations.
Theres a growing group of autocrats Russias Vladimir Putin, Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, North Koreas Kim Jong-un, Egypts Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte whove enjoyed Trumps public praise, and yet, the American president seems to clash with the heads of liberal, Western democracies.
Even on his current trip, Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia a country Barack Obama repeatedly pressured to improve its record on human rights where he assured his hosts he wasnt there to lecture. And yet, there was Trump in Belgium yesterday, eager to scold NATO allies with an argument he didnt seem to understand.
Yesterday was an opportunity to the American president to reassure our partners abroad about our partnerships and commitments. Trump, for reasons that deserve more scrutiny, chose to do the opposite.