America First? Why the U.S. Can’t Go It Alone

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June 7th, 2017 by Richard Boucher

Donald Trump’s interactions with our European Allies and his renunciation of the Paris Climate Accords have left our Allies baffled and startled. Faced with “America First” their reaction is to look after themselves. Unfortunately for both President Trump and the Europeans, we’re stuck with each other.

More than anything during his European trip, President Trump’s interlocutors tried to educate him on 21st century realities. Europeans repeatedly reminded him that Europe negotiates trade as Europe, not individual nations. At NATO, responding to his diatribes about flagging contributions, they explained that countries don’t contribute to NATO, but NATO expects them to spend 2% of their GDP on defense, a goal they have until 2024 to meet.

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Categorized as:InternationalTagged with:EU Europe NATO United States

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America First? Why the U.S. Can’t Go It Alone – And Neither Can Europe

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