Tag: Trump foreign policy

Watch Ivanka Trump’s Mortifying Moment During Merkel’s Speech In Munich

The Munich Security Conference on Saturday drew a lot of attention as Vice President Mike Pence’s fiery calls for Europe to stand with President Donald Trump was awkwardly met with zero applause whatsoever.

But another moment that was awkward for the president came when German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a scorching condemnation of the U.S. trade war —and Trump’s daughter Ivanka, sitting in the crowd, could only look on in stone-cold silence as the leader of one of America’s major allies ripped her father’s economic policy to pieces.


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“Apparently, the American secretary of trade says German cars are a threat to America’s national security,” said Merkel. “We’re proud of our automotive industry, and, I think we can be, we’re proud of our cars. They are built in the United States of America. South Carolina is one of the largest — it’s actually the largest BMW plant. Not in Bavaria. South Carolina is supplying China.”

View the complete February 18 article by Matthew Chapman on the National Memo website here.

Congress closer to forcing Trump’s hand on Saudi support

Supporters of a measure to cut off U.S. support to Saudi Arabia in Yemen are projecting victory in the coming weeks when the Senate takes up a House-passed resolution.

The Trump administration is expected to ramp up its lobbying against the Yemen war powers resolution as the vote nears in hopes of flipping some of the Republicans who back the measure.

But opponents have few tools at their disposal to stop the resolution, which only needs a simple majority for a procedural vote and subsequent final passage.

View the complete February 18 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.

Rift Between Trump and Europe Is Now Open and Angry

MUNICH — European leaders have long been alarmed that President Trump’s words and Twitter messages could undo a trans-Atlantic alliance that had grown stronger over seven decades. They had clung to the hope that those ties would bear up under the strain.

But in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.

A senior German official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on such matters, shrugged his shoulders and said: “No one any longer believes that Trump cares about the views or interests of the allies. It’s broken.”

View the complete February 17 article by Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold on The New York times website here.

Trump foreign policy under attack from all sides at European security conference

MUNICH — An annual security conference where Western allies have long forged united fronts erupted Saturday into a full-scale assault on the Trump administration’s foreign policy. European leaders, would-be Democratic challengers and even the president’s Republican backers took the floor to rebuke the president’s go-it-alone approach.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel — habitually cautious about provoking Trump — led the charge, unleashing a stinging, point-by-point takedown of the administration’s tendency to treat its allies as adversaries.

The speech appeared to provide much-needed catharsis. Trump’s antagonistic behavior has bred two years of accumulated grievance in much of Europe but has been met with few substantive answers on how to effectively challenge it.

View the complete Febraury 16 article by Griff Witte and Michael Birnbaum on The Washington Post website here.

Pompeo stresses importance of U.S. friends, a day after Pence blasted key allies

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, on Feb. 15 in Brussels. (Reuters)

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday talked up the importance of friends and allies as he visited two European capitals one day after Vice President Pence harshly criticized allies he said are helping Iran evade sanctions.

“No more will we take our friends, our true allies, our partners for granted,” he told reporters after noting he was the first secretary of state to visit in a decade and saying Iceland, like the Eastern European countries he visited on this trip, had done exactly that. “We simply can’t afford to neglect them.”

Pompeo stopped in Iceland while returning home from Warsaw, where the United States co-hosted a Middle East peace and security conference that was focused largely on what the administration considers the malign influence of Iran.

View the complete February 15 article by Carol Morello on The Washington Post website here.

6 Things to Know Before the Second Trump-Kim Summit

Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

On February 27 and 28, U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam. This second summit could answer a key question: Does Trump remain only interested in the appearance of progress, or can he extract genuine concessions from North Korea on its nuclear program?

When Trump and Kim met for the first time on June 12, 2018, in Singapore, they promised “to cooperate for the development of new U.S.–DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.” Yet beyond establishing vague areas of diplomatic focus and promising to return the remains of U.S. prisoners of war (POWs) and military personnel listed as missing in action (MIA), there were no concrete agreements on denuclearization. While Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Singapore summit was a success, there is scant evidence that North Korea has changed its behavior since then. Indeed, some observers believe that the United States gave up more than it received by providing a global platform for one of the world’s most brutal dictators without any tangible return.

Since the Singapore summit, both sides have, on occasion, attempted to signal an interest in moving negotiations forward: The United States relaxed restrictions on humanitarian assistance to North Korea, while North Korea announced that it was prepared to close its Yongbyon nuclear facilities in exchange for “corresponding measures” from the United States. But diplomacy appears to have stalled. Despite Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s two trips to Pyongyang since the June 2018 summit, the North Koreans have avoided real negotiations. Moreover, it was not until January 19 of this year that U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun finally met with his North Korean counterpart.

View the complete February 15 article by Michael Fuchs and Abigail Bard on the Center for American Progress website here.

Top general says he wasn’t consulted before Trump announced Syria withdrawal

The top U.S. general in charge of military operations in the Middle East on Tuesday said he was not consulted prior to President Trump‘s announcement that he would withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria.

“I was not aware of the specific announcement,” U.S. Central Command (Centcom) Commander Gen. Joseph Votel said while appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Certainly we are aware that he has expressed a desire and an intent in the past to depart Syria.”

Pressed further by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) on whether he was consulted ahead of Trump’s December announcement, Votel replied, “I was not consulted.”

View the complete February 5 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.

A Growing Chorus of Republican Critics for Trump’s Foreign Policy

FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Director of National intelligence Dan Coats Credit: Sarah Silbiger, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — They think pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan would be a debacle. They think North Korea cannot be trusted. They think the Islamic State is still a threat to America. They think Russia is bad and NATO is good.

The trouble is their president does not agree.

More than two years into his administration, the disconnect between President Trump and the Republican establishment on foreign policy has rarely been as stark. In recent days, the president’s own advisers and allies have been pushing back, challenging his view of the world and his prescription for its problems.

View the complete January 29 article by Peter baker on The New York Times website here.

Experts warn of persistent ISIS threat after suicide bombing B

The suicide bombing in Syria this past week at a restaurant said to be popular among U.S. service members put into focus the persistent threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), experts said.

The town in northern Syria where the bombing took place was considered a success story for stabilization after it was retaken from ISIS in 2016. As recently as July, U.S. senators toured the area without body armor.

But Wednesday’s blast in Manbij’s bustling city center shattered that perception at a time when President Trump has been touting the decimation of ISIS and plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

View the complete January 20 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.

Trump embarrassed himself and America all over the world in 2018. A lot.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

Throughout 2018, Trump bumbled about the global stage, never missing a chance to embarrass himself and the United States.

As Trump tramped around the globe in 2018, the world watched in both amusement and alarm at his childlike tantrums, flat-out lies, and general ineptitude. In the end, global opinion of America plummeted, which is what you would expect with the laughing stock who occupies the Oval Office.

The year began on a low note, with 11 countries coming to a trade agreement without the United States. Rather than try to influence the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Trump isolated himself and the United States, withdrawing from all negotiations. In the end, Australia, Japan, Canada, and several others forged ahead, leaving America behind.

Over the summer, Trump’s humiliations came fast and furious. World leaders ridiculedTrump’s child-like tantrum at the end of the G-7 Summit in Canada after Trump withdrew from the group’s agreement via Twitter. One senior official called Trump “a pathetic little man-child.”

View the complete December 27 article by Dan Desai Martin on the ShareBlue.com website here.