Nordwick, Netherlands
CNN
–
When President Donald Trump travels here on Tuesday for the resulting summit of NATO leaders, he will visit a newly mediated ceasefire, hoping to prove to his skeptics (including the conference) that he is the peace superintendent of the heart.
The deal between Israel and Iran came after an intensive afternoon diplomacy at the White House, but Israel accused Iran of launching several missiles and vowed to respond “by force.” Tehran refused to violate the ceasefire.
Trump hoped the ceasefire would serve as evidence for a US strike against Iran’s nuclear facility (if held), and feared that he would elicit mixed reactions from leaders here in Europe and be caught up in a wider war.
Ultimately, the deal announced by Trump on Monday was mediated with the help of Qatar, appearing to have Europeans on the sidelines. White House officials said diplomatic arrangements would have been impossible if Trump did not order the bombing over the weekend.
“Congratulations to everyone!” Trump posted on his Truth Social Platform Monday evening.
At least in Trump’s mind, the deal could strengthen his height as a global contract maker, at a moment when his ability to attack peace deals is being tested. As he returns to the world stage, the president appears enthusiastic to show his ability to bring fight parties to the table, even if he still can’t resolve the European conflict behind this week’s gathering.
This week’s Hague Summit was carefully planned for months to avoid angering Trump and the paper about the huge differences that remain between Europe and the US on how to manage wars in Ukraine.
The Centerpiece is a short, focused final statement designed to avoid language conflicts, officializing a new plan to raise annual military spending targets on the numbers Trump requested: 5% of GDP. (But Trump told reporters Friday that the US wouldn’t have to meet its target.)
Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky will set up a seat for a pre-dinner dinner on Tuesday evening, but Trump will be present. However, Ukrainian leaders will not attend the one-day summit on Wednesday. He highlighted his deadly ambitions for his country to join NATO.
Already, the division between Trump and European leaders over Ukraine has threatened NATO’s attempts to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin to inform the unified front. Trump appears reluctant to apply new sanctions to Moscow despite his peaceful efforts stagnate, and has not approved new military aid to Ukraine so far.
And over the weekend, European officials personally decided that Frett Trump would cancel his trip to the NATO summit entirely, fearing that he would view it as an unnecessary movement to take him out of Middle Eastern comfort in Washington, according to one Western official.
White House officials were also weighing whether they would still be present amid the Middle Eastern fire. However, on Monday, after both Israel and Iran appeared to have agreed to a ceasefire, the president decided to move on with a newly mediated agreement following extraordinary diplomacy at the White House.
In the past, the US president, who had just carried out a massive military operation, may have enjoyed the opportunity to consult with his European counterparts to try to build a coalition after arranging a suspension in the battle.
But Trump’s approach looks more go-alone, not cooperative.
Even before Trump gave Go-Aard to launch strikes at three Iranian nuclear facilities, he openly rejected Europe’s efforts to mediate diplomatic resolutions on the conflict.
“Iran doesn’t want to talk to Europe, they want to tell us,” Trump told reporters on Friday.
“Europe can’t help with this.”
A few days ago, he left early from a group of seven summits in Canada. Rather than staying at mountainside gatherings, they strategized Iran with leaders who might have been involved in the growing conflict.
The president’s lonely approach was not a surprise to European leaders. Trump revealed over the weekend that he believes only the US has the real position to intervene, and later declared that “only American weapons can be done.”
Trump is skeptical of multilateral organizations such as the G7 and NATO, and instead believes that direct interaction between countries is a more fruitful approach to global affairs.
He previously amortized NATO in an attempt to narrow resources from the United States to protect the nation on the other side of the sea. At the 2018 NATO summit during his first presidency, he shook during a meeting at the closing door when he said he would consider doing his own “someone” if they didn’t significantly increase their defensive spending.
The results were Trump’s loud voices against increased investment in defense among NATO members. Now more countries meet alliance thresholds than when they first took office in 2017. However, he continues to insist that this is not enough, especially as the war in Ukraine intensifies.
But now, recent tensions in the Middle East could mask wars in Europe.