President Trump has shaken up America's global alliances with policy reversals and realignments being felt around the world. How are writers, analysts, and leaders making sense of it all?Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter. This bonus episode of Up First was edited Lisa Thomson, Arezou Rezvani, Reena Advani and Olivia Hampton. It was produced by Claire Murashima, Nia Dumas, Chris Thomas, Paige Waterhouse, Adam Bearne, Milton Guevara and Ana Perez.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: How has President Trump changed America's global alliances?
President Trump has shaken up America's global alliances with policy reversals and moves toward realignments that are being felt around the world. I'm not aligned with anybody.
I'm aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world.
So how are other world leaders as well as thought leaders making sense of these big changes? I'm Michelle Martin, and this is a special bonus episode of Up First from NPR News. A major shock has been President Trump's tilt toward Russia and its war on Ukraine.
First of all, he's not an isolationist. He's an ardent nationalist and much more comfortable with autocratic leaders than with leaders of liberal democracies.
What does that mean for future relations between the U.S. and its Democratic allies? It has so many implications that they're almost hard to think through. Stay with us. We've got news you need to make sense of it in this special bonus episode of Up First from NPR News. After years of U.S.
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Chapter 2: What is President Trump's relationship with Russia?
policies aimed at isolating Russia, the Trump administration is working with Russia to try to make a deal to end the war. Critics say Trump is appeasing Putin, even that Trump has forged a new alliance with Putin. During a heated meeting in the White House with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump says that's not true.
I'm not aligned with Putin. I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world.
Europeans and others are worried because what happens in Ukraine could have broader implications. So what do the shifting alliances mean for America and its role in the world?
Chapter 3: Why are shifting alliances concerning for Europe?
Trump is saying, I don't care anymore about alliances. I'm not interested in your opinions. I'm going to do a deal with this dictator over your head.
That's Anne Applebaum, a staff writer for The Atlantic, talking about Trump's recent posturing towards Russia. She says Russia is a threat not only to Ukraine, but also to Europe.
And that's a message that is heard not just in every European capital, but in every allied capital around the planet as a sign that the U.S. is changing.
Chapter 4: How do experts perceive Trump's foreign policy stance?
My co-host Leila Fadl spoke with her about the significance of the shift.
Okay, so if the U.S. says, I don't care about alliances anymore, what does that mean for U.S. and global stability?
It has so many implications that they're almost hard to think through. There are economic implications. You know, what happens to our trade relationships with Europe and with Asia? What about the U.S. companies that have enjoyed special favor in those markets? You know, U.S. defense companies, but also U.S.
nuclear power companies, other kinds of big utility companies that have been welcomed by those countries because as a way of expressing their fealty to the United States. What happens to a series of trade agreements that have created easy and regular trade between all around the world? What happens to All kinds of treaties on, not just treaties on commerce, but treaties on the laws of war.
All these things that have governed U.S. behavior and allied behavior all over the world for 80 years now disappear.
We also heard from Stephen Walt, a foreign policy expert at Harvard. He's concerned about the kinds of world leaders Trump seems comfortable with.
First of all, he's not an isolationist. He's an ardent nationalist and much more comfortable with autocratic leaders than with leaders of liberal democracies. It's Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.
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Chapter 5: What does Stephen Walt suggest about U.S. and Europe relations?
And I think in Trump's mind, a perfect world would be one where powerful leaders can get together and cut deals and then impose them on others without paying too much attention to the rule of law.
Like Applebaum, Walt is concerned that this positioning should shake up how Democratic allies view the U.S.
If the United States is no longer a reliable ally, if it actually seems to be hostile to liberal democracy in Europe, then I think we're going to find that the countries we've been counting on in the past to support us on many international initiatives are going to be much less willing to do so.
But Walt has been critical of U.S. foreign policy and what he views as an overcommitment to allies and the expansion of NATO without clear benefits to the U.S. So how does he think the U.S. should realign with allies?
Well, there's no question Europe should be more responsible for its own defense and the United States should be shifting its attention and resources elsewhere. I think I agree with that.
But that should be done in a responsible, cooperative way and it should be done gradually over a period of five to ten years because Europe is going to need some time to develop its own security institutions, build up its forces.
We should be moving in that direction but we should be doing that by treating them as our allies so that ten years from now we still have a good relationship with Europe and we can count on their diplomatic support and count on cooperating with them when unexpected events happen. Trump appears to be burning up the alliance.
My co-host Steve Inskeep asked Victoria Coates, a former deputy national security advisor in the first Trump administration, if the president has already upended the world order and switched sides.
No, I don't think so, Steve. I think what President Trump is doing is acknowledging that 80 years on, the reason that some of the structures were put in place after World War II, which was actually largely to prevent another inter-Europe war, that those circumstances are no longer in place. You know, a war between Germany and France is not our number one national security problem.
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Chapter 6: Has President Trump upended the world order?
And in terms of how allies might be interpreting shifts in approach, Coates says visits to Washington from several European leaders, Prime Minister Keir Starmer from the U.K., President Emmanuel Macron of France, and President Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine, tell a different story.
So that hardly looks to me like, you know, a Washington that is rejecting Europe.
Another European leader who came to Washington is EU foreign policy chief Kaya Callas. My colleague A. Martinez spoke with her and started by asking about what President Trump said at his first cabinet meeting as he threatens 25 percent tariffs against the EU.
The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it. And they've done a good job of it, but now I'm president.
European Union was formed so that there wouldn't be any wars in Europe anymore. And we have been succeeding with the members of European Union that we don't have wars between ourselves. But the United States has always been our ally and friend. So I don't know where this talk comes from.
A asked Kallis about her hopes for Ukraine.
What the Americans are explaining is that when you have economic ties with the country, then it's also in your interest to work for the security of this country. You know, it's clear that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim. So it's clear that we need to have very, very concrete security guarantees for Ukraine. And the strongest security guarantee that there is, is a NATO membership.
President Trump, however, has said this about membership.
But I can tell you that NATO you can forget about.
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