Trump leaves World War I event isolated among allies

Bloomberg

For US President Donald Trump, attending a French-run ceremony to commemorate World War I, a bloodletting that highlighted the value of allies and dangers of nationalism, was never going to be easy. By the time he flew home on Sunday he appeared isolated and, by some, scorned.
Trump arrived fresh off midterm elections where his party lost control of the House of Representatives even as he kept control of the Senate. A Twitter storm over his failure to attend a commemoration service of Marines who died a century ago on the battlefields of France is unlikely to affect him domestically, with his backers and opponents already well entrenched.
Abroad, though, the equivalent of any modern US president’s base — the network of alliances built up through two World Wars and beyond — appears more fragile.
That’s a risk for a leader who may need their cooperation as he confronts China in a trade war and Iran over its foreign and nuclear policies.
The weekend exposed tensions with US allies in Europe over Trump’s decision to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, which has kept the continent free of theater-range nuclear missiles for more than 30 years.
It also underlined growing concerns over the reliability of US security guarantees under Trump, and his wider commitment to a postwar international order the US was largely responsible for building and has benefited from, including economically.
French President Emmanuel Macron peppered the field with diplomatic land-mines before Trump arrived in Paris, staging the weekend’s ceremonies to promote his own liberal and internationalist view of how the world should respond to the wave of nationalism that’s sweeping the US and parts of Europe. Even before the 60-plus heads of state and government hit town, Macron criticised Trump over the INF treaty withdrawal.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio on November 6, he repeated his calls for a “true European army’’ as part of a drive for greater Continental autonomy to defend against China, Russia — and an increasingly unreliable US Trump fired back on Twitter, moments after landing in Paris, describing the comment as “insulting.’’
While Merkel and Macron are pushing back on “America First,” Trump has a growing number of like-minded allies among Europe’s leaders, including in Hungary, Italy and Poland, but they’re as yet too few to set European policy.
And he’s also seemed more comfortable with Putin at international gatherings.

Trump’s absence at Asia summits is not a snub
Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump’s absence at several international summits in Asia this week isn’t a snub, Mike Pence told reporters en route to the region.
The vice president arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a trip that will also take him to Singapore and Papua New Guinea.
He faces the challenge of reassuring allies about US policy towards Asia amid increasing doubts about its commitment and consistency.
The US’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region “has never been stronger,” Pence told reporters in Alaska on Sunday night en route to Tokyo.
Trump’s decision to skip the summits is “not in the least” a snub, he said, adding that the president is “where the American people would want him” in Paris for World War 1 commemorations.