Tidal Wave on Foreign Policy
Author: Greg Valliere
February 18, 2025
AFTER WEEKS of mass firings, regulatory changes and spending cuts, a new phase is about to begin — a radical shift in U.S. foreign policy, as Europe takes a back seat. The Donald Trump-Elon Musk blitzkrieg is now moving overseas.
TO PUT IT SIMPLY, Europe is out and Russia suddenly is ascendant, as initial signals, confusing and erratic, worried America’s European allies and seemed to reward chiefly Russian President Vladimir Putin.
COLUMNIST DAVID IGNATIUS, the widely read geopolitical analyst, says that “even by Trump’s disruptive standards, the initial bargaining process verged on anarchy. The message and the messengers changed almost daily; concessions to Putin were offered and then withdrawn.”
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION “seemed to be excluding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, then wooing him, then fending him off again,” Ignatius wrote.” The initial process seemingly ignored European leaders, who got an earful from JD Vance in Europe over the weekend.
IGNATIUS SAID Vance “bizarrely used the gathering to harangue Europe and insult his German hosts. His remarks offended even some of his fellow Republicans, and Germany Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.”
DEFENSE SECRETARY Pete Hegseth seemingly conceded two key negotiating points: that Ukraine couldn’t keep all its territory and that NATO membership was a nonstarter. That amplified fears among Ukraine’s American and European supporters that Trump was preparing to sell out Kyiv to placate Moscow.
ZELENSKY TOLD AN ASTONISHED group of senators that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had visited him in Kyiv and pressured Zelensky to sign over rights to half of Ukraine’s critical minerals, as the price of American support in negotiations. “For me, this is very strange,” Zelensky said,
VANCE SAID Trump’s goal is a “durable” peace that would presumably require security guarantees for Ukraine. Our bottom line is that there will be modest progress this week — probably a pledge to continue talks — but the virtual exclusion of Europe is a radical new chapter, as Trump seeks a new approach.
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