The Trump Administration’s Gradual Retreat From Europe
Why does it matter if Rex Tillerson skips a NATO summit?
Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Uri Friedman Mar 22, 2017 Global
Diplomacy is a subtle art, which is why it is often over-interpreted. Reports on Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Russia in April but not attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers earlier in the month are being lumped together as a sign that the Trump administration is courting Russia and rejecting its European allies—a sign that comes just after the FBI director confirmed an investigation into possible connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election. But the story is more complicated than the headlines suggest: According to Reuters, Tillerson may be skipping the NATO gathering in order to attend a summit that same week with the Chinese president in the United States, and he’ll be discussing the military campaign against ISIS with his counterparts in NATO countries during a conference in Washington, D.C. this week.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/trump-tillerson-nato/520254/
