ABSTRACT
Vladimir Putin’s new path, evident by the beginning of 2017, envisioned Donald Trump both as a partner in achieving objectives pursued by Moscow and amenable to Washington and as an instrument for abandoning US global leadership and furthering Russia’s efforts to erode the unity of the Western bloc. In advance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, Donald Trump reportedly sent a strongly worded letter to nine of his allies warning that the US would no longer pay for European security if Europe did not increase its own contributions. Almost immediately after his inauguration as president, Trump began to implement large parts of his “America First” agenda. In March 2018, President Trump launched a wider assault on current US trade policies. Trump had claimed, as he returned to the US from Singapore, that America and the world could “sleep well tonight” since the nuclear threat from North Korea had been ended.
