Trump Invitation to Russia Deepens Rift With America’s Allies

QUEBEC CITY — It was a time of diplomatic consensus for the world’s industrialized democracies, organized by the United States in defense of “sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.”

The year was 2014, and the Group of 8 nations expelled Russia from the most exclusive club in the world for what the other leaders said was its “illegal attempt to annex Crimea.” Four years later, there is still unity of purpose — but now much of the moral anger is directed at the United States.

President Donald Trump has found himself isolated on the global stage for taking actions viewed by the United States’ closest allies as destructive and even illegal. On Saturday, he underscored the new chasm between the United States and its friends by leaving early from this year’s Group of 7 summit and skipping talks about climate change, oceans and clean energy — ceding not only America’s leadership on those topics, but its very seat at the table.

As he pursues his America First agenda, Trump has driven a wedge between the United States and its allies by imposing aggressive tariffs, abandoning the Paris climate change accord and pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal that the Western democracies negotiated along with President Barack Obama.

And with no warning Friday, Trump deepened that rift by directly challenging the 2014 Hague Declaration and calling for Russia to be reinstated as a member of the world’s most elite group of nations without insisting on any of the conditions the West has demanded in terms of ending its intervention in Ukraine.

On Saturday, pressed on the issue at a news conference, Trump made clear his belief that Russia’s actions in Crimea should not stand in the way. “It’s been done a long time,” he said. “I would rather see Russia in the G-8, as opposed to the G-7. I would say that the G-8 is a more meaningful group than the G-7, absolutely.”

Trump also blamed his predecessor for what happened there. “You have to ask President Obama, because he was the one who let Crimea get away,” he told reporters before leaving Canada for his meeting in Singapore with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un. “That was in his administration.”

Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to Washington, said: “Trump is readier to give a pass to countries that pose a real threat to Western values and security than to America’s traditional allies. If there is a ‘method to the madness,’ to use the words of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, it is currently well hidden.”

Trump, however, is at odds not only with the United States’ traditional allies but also with many in his own administration. Even as he was clashing with European leaders Friday about a Russian return to the G-7, his own director of national intelligence was giving a speech in France condemning Moscow’s malign behavior and warning against allowing it to divide the allies.

Speaking at a conference in Normandy, Dan Coats, the intelligence director, listed a series of actions by Russia in addition to its annexation of Crimea, including its efforts to interfere in U.S. and European elections and the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter living in Britain.

“These Russian actions are purposeful and premeditated and they represent an all-out assault by Vladimir Putin on the rule of law, Western ideals and democratic norms,” Coats said, according to prepared remarks. “His actions demonstrate that he seeks to sow divisions within and between those in the West who adhere to democratic norms.”

“The Russians are actively seeking to divide our alliance,” Coats added, “and we must not allow that to happen.”

Trump has never expressed the outrage at Russia’s actions in Ukraine that European leaders feel, essentially casting it as a local issue that did not really concern the United States. In 2016, as a candidate, he suggested that he would be open to recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, even though it had been denounced by most of the rest of the world as illegal.

Some foreign policy experts said Trump had a point about bringing Russia back to the table with the G-7. Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official who has been critical of the president, said “every once in a while he gets it right.” The breakdown of the West’s relationship with Russia stems from the failure to recognize Russia’s legitimate status in the world, he said.

“The G-7, G-8, is a big symbol of that,” said Shapiro, now the research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, based in London. “Letting them in was a big deal, and kicking them out was a big deal. We have to get past the notion that going to these meetings is some kind of reward.”

Trump’s abrupt declaration that Russia should be reinstated — without demanding a withdrawal from Ukraine — drew rebukes from allies, including Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign minister, who said Friday night that Russia “had no interest in behaving according to the rules of Western democracies” and that there are “no grounds whatsoever” for bringing Russia back.

Molly McKew, a foreign policy strategist who served as an adviser to the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova in their struggles with Moscow, said the expulsion of Russia from the Group of 8 reflected “a sense of unity” in the West that has eroded since Trump’s election, encouraging some European nations to want to return to doing business with Russia.

“As Trump’s America is increasingly isolated and viewed as a rogue actor, the Kremlin is again preying upon ‘economic openness’ to buy silence for their crimes in Ukraine, Syria, and beyond, even as they attack our societies,” McKew said.

Trump seems unbothered by the ostracism, making the case that America has allowed itself for too many years to be pushed around by foreign powers that took advantage of it, whether in trade or security. In some ways, he wears the criticism from abroad as a badge of honor, proof that he is representing the best interests of the United States. His supporters cheer his aggressive posture on the world stage, seeing him as a champion of their needs. Trump had already made clear before the G-7 summit that he had no intention of reconsidering his position on climate change or Iran. And he refused to ease steel and aluminum tariffs he just imposed on Europe and Canada, arguing that the allies have been taking advantage of the United States.

“There are disagreements,” conceded Larry Kudlow, director of Trump’s National Economic Council. “My view? We can get through this.”

That may be true in the long run. But for now, Trump’s actions have helped strengthen the bonds between the other allies, especially in Europe, where political and demographic forces — including populist movements and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union — had begun undermining their common purpose. Now, that common purpose is increasingly aimed at countering the United States.

Disagreements over policy are not the only thing driving the United States away from its traditional allies. Trump’s personal style has also confounded and sometimes infuriated his counterparts, who never know quite what to expect.

“On a Monday, you could be his best friend, on Tuesday his worst enemy, and by Friday, you’re golf buddies again,” said Mark Dubowitz, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The G-7 nations struggled to reach any kind of consensus for a joint statement that Trump could sign. During meetings Friday, Trump said he thought it was possible. But a senior Canadian official, speaking to reporters on background, said the United States has been noncommittal about putting its signature on a final communiqué.

“The G-7 should be our preferred venue to unify the free world to compete with and counter authoritarian kleptocracies,” said Damon Wilson, a former national security aide to President George W. Bush and now vice president of the Atlantic Council, which advocates trans-Atlantic cooperation. “Rather than prepare for that real battle, we’re distracted in a family dispute.”