After President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, the White House wanted to make one thing clear: Ukrainian leaders expressed gratitude to the U.S. president. Thank you so much.
The statement convened the call mentioned that Mr. Zelensky thanked the President for his efforts to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia. It then went on to point out that Mr. Zelensky was “grateful” to Mr. Trump’s leadership.
The description reveals a pattern of the Trump administration’s shaping of its foreign policy agenda: On the diplomatic side, Mr. Trump hopes to express implicit or explicit personal gratitude to his American allies.
Michael Froman, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Mr. Trump’s diplomatic attitude to deal shows that he believes helping U.S. allies is a favor, not as a cornerstone of foreign policy, which will bring dividends on the road.
“This does show a fundamentally different concept from the concept of order in the past 80 years, and it is also in our interest to our support for their defense,” Furland said. “I believe President Trump is questioning this.”
Trump insists on thanking you at a meeting in the Oval Office last month, most notably including Mr. Trump, Vice Presidents Judd Vance and Zelensky.
Vance scolded the Ukrainian leader and said, “You should thank the president for trying to end this conflict.” Mr. Trump told Zelensky’s end to Zelensky, “You didn’t show it at all. It’s not a good thing.”
The call last week was the first time the two have spoken since.
Mr. Trump seems to have taken a softer approach with Russia. There is no record of gratitude in the phone describing the phone between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Trump’s desire for gratitude is a shift in U.S. diplomatic relations. It is not uncommon for the president to recognize the contribution of military and humanitarian support. President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
But any friction between world leaders often occurs behind closed doors, with more restraint on the public description of “full and frank discussion.”
White House officials defended Mr. Trump’s approach.
“This is called respect,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.
“Every U.S. president should ask allies and opponents to ask, especially when asked to defend billions of dollars in taxpayers,” Fields said.
Kori Schake, director of diplomatic and defense policy research at the American Enterprise Institute, also served as a national security aide to President George W. Bush, who said Trump treats “our allies act like subjects, not like companions.”
She added: “This signal is in a strict global order, and if you humble yourself before the president of the United States, you can get what you want.”
The parade of foreign tourists to the White House seems to have been prompted.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s speech to Mr. Trump earlier this month was “very grateful”. He went on to praise Mr. Trump, who has long opposed the group, for his increased military spending in the coalition and his refusal to defend Greenland, the territory of one of its members, as Mr. Trump was threatened by hostile docking.
During his visit to the White House the same week, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin did not explicitly say “thank you”. Instead, he mentioned Mr. Trump’s personal investment in the country, rather than responding to the president’s complaint that Ireland is exploiting trade imbalances to capitalize on the United States.
Mr Martin said of Mr Trump: “I think the difference that exists is the only president who made physical investments in Ireland through Dunberg. He added: “It’s amazing. ”
Mr. Trump was fascinated. “I love this guy,” he replied.
Even Mr. Trump’s cabinet members have begun to thank.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio conducted a social media exchange between Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Elon Musk, which is STARLINK, a satellite internet service provided to Ukraine by Mr. Musk Rocket Company SpaceX.
When Mr. Sikorski asserted that the service was paid partly by the Polish Ministry of Digitalization and warned Mr. Musk not to threaten to tighten it, Mr. Rubio accused him of “just making up for it”.
“Thank you, because Ukraine without starlight links would have lost this war a long time ago, and the Russians will now border Poland,” Mr Rubio said in an article on social media.
Another Polish minister, Witold Zembaczynski, wrote what Mr. Rubio asked, but in support of Mr. Sikorski.
“Thank you. It’s so simple #standwithukraine, not with war criminals #putin.”
Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, said Mr. Trump has “dominated” throughout his career as a businessman and politician.
“He adopted a foreign policy with a US-led order as a protection racket,” Duss said. “If you want protection, you have to pay tribute to your boss and you have to pay upstairs.”
