COLUMNS

Trump, Putin and a Contentious State of Affairs on the Continent

Reva Goujon

VP of Global Analysis, Stratfor

Jul 11, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

After leaving a NATO summit, U.S. President Donald Trump (right) is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. In this photo, the two presidents make their way to take the "family photo" during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 11, 2017.

(JORGE SILVA/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the NATO summit will bring with it a repeat of a set of familiar negotiating tactics, which are more likely to deepen the chasm between the White House and some security allies.
While U.S. relations with the Western European powers will remain strained, Eastern European allies will try to deepen their energy and security ties with Washington in hopes of muddying a potential U.S.-Russia rapprochement.
While negotiations with Moscow on a host of issues could serve a strategic purpose, that strategy would be greatly undermined if the White House inadvertently plays to the Kremlin on dividing the West.

With another NATO summit underway, the news media will go wild again this week in search of another iconic image to add to U.S. President Donald Trump's scrapbook on trans-Atlantic relations. Will the president top the 2017 shot of his shoving aside the leader of a tiny Balkan country? Will there be public outcry when he avoids endorsing another generic joint statement? After a handful of summits like these, Trump's "shock and awe" tactics on his European partners are getting awfully predictable. And no leader will take more delight in the stressed trans-Atlantic relations than Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be meeting with Trump on the heels of the NATO summit....

Subscribe to view this article

Subscribe Now

Already have an account?