Trump's go-it-alone approach to foreign policy angers allies, benefits adversaries

[DonViejo]

By James Hohmann
May 25 at 9:14 AM

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump once again showed friend and foe alike on Thursday that the United States is no longer a reliable negotiating partner.

Trump’s decision to abruptly cancel next month’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may very well have been the right call at this point. But the way the president went about it will likely have second and third order consequences that he does not appear to have grappled with, from empowering China to straining alliances and undermining future nonproliferation efforts.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s national security adviser told reporters on the flight to Washington earlier this week that there was a “99.9 percent chance” the summit would go on as planned in Singapore on June 12.

Soon after Moon and his entourage arrived back in Seoul from their meetings at the White House, they were blindsided by Trump’s announcement that the summit in Singapore was off. One of America’s closest allies, with as much to gain or lose from the talks as anyone, found out the same way everyone else did that they won’t happen: The White House blasted out an open letter from Trump to Kim.

Trump didn’t want to give anyone a heads up for fear the news would leak, despite warnings from some in the White House that it wasn’t worth insulting the South Koreans. Moon, who has staked his political future on rapprochement with Pyongyang and worked to position himself as the intermediary between Kim and Trump, convened an emergency meeting after midnight local time at the presidential Blue House. Then he released a statement that said he was “very perplexed and sorry.”

-- “America First” is turning out to be America Alone, as the United States isolates itself from the world in ways not seen since the 1930s. Trump has pulled out of the Iranian nuclear agreement, the Paris climate accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In all three cases, the president promised he would negotiate a better deal for the United States. He has not yet done so.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-lot-of-dial-tones-the-inside-story-of-how-trumps-north-korea-summit-fell-apart/2018/05/24/71bb5ad8-5f6f-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html

[LenaBaby61]

1. "Trump's go-it-alone approach to foreign policy angers allies, benefits adversaries."

Fatso's really not going it alone though. putin's in charge of & running our foreign policy.