During his second presidency, Donald Trump has been threatening longtime U.S. allies — from Canada to countries in the European Union (EU) — with steep tariffs while praising far-right authoritarian figures like Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
U.S. allies, however, keep hoping that he will back down from his tariffs, and are trying to avoid antagonizing Trump.
In an article published by The Atlantic on July 14, journalists Ashley Parker and Isaac Stanley-Becker examine the challenges U.S. allies are facing in their efforts to work with Trump.
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“In Trump’s second term, foreign leaders now meticulously prepare for their phone calls and meetings with him, often war-gaming possible surprises and entanglements, and trading information and best practices with allies,” Parker and Stanley-Becker explain. “Eight diplomats and officials from six countries, as well as other foreign-policy experts, all described to us an unofficial formula for ensuring fruitful interactions with Trump: an alchemic mix of flattery, firmness, and personal flourishes.”
The reporters add, “Foreign leaders, especially those from fellow democracies, face an inherent tension in wanting to woo Trump while also advocating for their country’s own interests and maintaining their standing back home.”
Kori Schake, director of defense and foreign-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, described the challenges that U.S. allies face when dealing with Trump.
Schake told The Atlantic, “The leaders of friendly countries are turning keys in the lock desperately trying to find a way to prevent their meetings with President Trump from being disasters. The challenge for foreign leaders is that President Trump seems to only have two categories: supplicants and enemies…. They ask knowledgeable Americans, ‘Might this work? This is what we’re thinking of trying. Do you think this is good enough?’”
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A European diplomat, quoted anonymously told The Atlantic, “There is a sense that you want to be on the right side of history. You do want to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and reread your statements in the Oval Office a couple of years later and say, ‘I feel good about what I said’…. Our entire walk-through with the White House was like, ‘This is what it’s going to be like, but we follow the lead of the president.’”
A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ambassador, also quoted anonymously, compared Trump’s first and second presidencies and told The Atlantic, “If you went through the first term saying, ‘This is an aberration; we just have to get through it,’ defiance was a reasonable bet to make. Now, we’ve seen him be reelected. At least half of Americans are aligned with his politics. It’s not just that he’s back. Clearly, there’s been a shift in America more deeply.”
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Read Ashley Parker and Isaac Stanley-Becker’s full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).