Europe’s delicate Dance with Trump on Ukraine

Several European leaders who met with President Trump at the White House last week appeared like students summoned to the principal’s office.

However, consider President Trump’s perspective from behind the Resolute Desk: a unified group of European leaders. From this viewpoint, their visit represented a moment of diplomatic inspiration.

Europe has developed a strategy for dealing with Mr. Trump regarding ukraine: First, offer praise, acknowledging his strength, commitment to peace, and deal-making abilities.Second, incrementally attempt to turn him against Russia’s president, vladimir Putin – a task Mr. Putin,despite his efforts,has been unable to accomplish.

This strategy proved effective again last week. When President Trump’s meeting with Mr. Putin in Alaska threatened to undermine their progress, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, along with leaders from Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, NATO, and the European Commission, traveled to Washington to refocus the conversation on security guarantees, rather than territorial concessions. the meeting was reportedly cordial, and Ukraine received another reprieve.

Europeans have discovered their ability to quickly unite and agree on a course of action when managing President Trump. This represents progress. The challenge now is to leverage this newfound unity into a position of strength, enabling them to guide negotiations and support Ukraine on the battlefield.

It is indeed remarkable to observe the European Union – one of the world’s largest economies and single markets, possessing critically important political influence and the potential to become a military power – frequently enough choosing to follow rather than lead. This hesitancy stems from a past pattern of deferring to the United States and the internal complexities of maintaining unity on basic issues.

Throughout the year, Europe has largely reacted to American initiatives on Ukraine.