(Cartoon image is by Bob Englehart at cagle.com.)France, Canada, and Great Britain are the oldest allies the United States had. And following World War II, Germany, Japan, and Italy joined the other three in being reliable and important allies of the United States. These six countries, along with the United States, make up the members of the G-7 economic group, and in the past, their unified goals have helped to stabilize the world economy and help all countries to flourish.
But then Donald Trump was elected. He seems to have no respect for our six best allies. They have all tried to reason with Trump, and failing that, they have tried to flatter him in an attempt to maintain their alliance. Trump has snubbed all their efforts. Against their wishes, he has pulled out of the Paris Accords (endangering the climate of the whole world), denigrated NATO (even suggesting the U.S. might pull out), and violated the Iran Agreement and re-instated sections against that country (sanctions that would seriously affect our allies). Now he has gone further. He has placed tariffs on Canada and the European Union, and threatened tariffs against Japan (cars).
Trump seems not to value having allies. He thinks the United States can go it alone in the world -- and threaten all other nations to fallen line with U.S. wishes through our military and economic power. He is wrong, and he's fixing to find that out. The other 6 nations of the G-7 are tired of Trump's behavior and attacks on their economies, and they are ready to fight back. They are ready to impose their own tariffs on U.S. products -- tariffs that will hurt American farmers, industries, and consumers. And they will have the support of their people in this retaliation against Trump (who is very unpopular around the world).
I worry about what is going to happen in the future -- when we need those allies and find they are no longer willing to come to our aid.
But it's worse than just attacking our allies. Trump seems determined to help our enemies. He will be leaving the G-7 summit early to fly to Singapore to meet with North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un. Trump is bragging about the meeting like it was some kind of accomplishment. It isn't!
Any past U.S. president (Clinton, Bush, Obama) could have easily had such a meeting. They didn't because they knew it would accomplish nothing except a public relations victory for the North Korean dictator -- making it seem like they were on an equal footing with the United States (one of the world's most powerful nations). Sadly, Trump has given them that PR victory without receiving anything in return.
Trump thinks he can talk Kim Jong-Un into giving up his nuclear weapons, even though he did no preparation before the meeting with North Korea. Trump is a fool, and he's being played by North Korea. They are NOT going to give up their nuclear weapons. Trump has threatened "massive sanctions" if they don't give up those weapons.
He think they only have two choices -- give up the nuclear weapons or starve. That is not true. They have a third option if they get desperate enough -- attack South Korea to get what they need. China and Russia are not going to let that happen. They don't want a war threatening their part of the world, and they will see that North Korea gets just enough to stave off that kind of desperation.
Trump will return from Singapore either empty-handed, or with a really bad deal (that doesn't involve North Korean denuclearization).
North Korea is not the only enemy Trump wants to help. He has done his best to help Russia. Shortly after being sworn in, Trump tried to remove sanctions against Russia, and was stopped by Congress. When Congress passed new sanctions against Russia, Trump refused to impose them. Trump also supported the Russian annexation of the Crimea, and has basically allowed Russia to take control in Syria. Just yesterday, he announced that Russia should be re-admitted to the G-7 (which used to be the G-8 until Russia was kicked out for invading the Ukraine and annexing the Crimea). What has he gotten from Russia for all this help? NOTHING!
Russia is also the nation that benefits from Trump's attacks on our traditional allies. Putin has to be thrilled that the Western nations are no longer a solid bloc.
Why is Trump attacking our allies and helping our enemies? Is it just stupidity and incompetence, or is it something more nefarious? Is it payback for Russia helping him win the 2016 election? Do the Russians have some nasty secret on Trump they are using to control him?
