Donald Trump warms to China and Nato, flipflops on Russia

US president reverses position on Nato, says western defence alliance is “no longer obsolete”

WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump appeared to have moved the farthest yet from his determination to work with Russia, when he suggested on Wednesday that bilateral relations were at an “all-time low” and that Moscow might have known about the chemical attack in Syria.

On Thursday, however, he returned with a re-reconsidered position on Russia to strike a positive note, tweeting, “Things will work out fine between the USA and Russia. At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!”

Will he hold to that position now, and for how long?

Trump seemed to have changed his position on Nato as well, saying the western defence alliance he had railed against as a candidate is “no longer obsolete”, and, gong against another campaign rant, he stated that China was not a currency manipulator. And all of these consequential policy changes came in just one day, reversing major campaign promises and positions that had contributed to defining him as a candidate of change.

“Right now, we’re not getting along with Russia at all,” Trump said at a news conference with visiting Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. “We may be at an all-time low in terms of a relationship with Russia.”

And he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Wednesday China will not be named a currency manipulator in a report due out in a few weeks because, he added, it has not been manipulating its currency in recent months and, critically, designating it as one could jeopardize its help discipline North Korea, a client state.

Trump has also come around on Nato, which he had once said was obsolete and was sponging off the United States, with member countries not paying their agreed share. He had been severe about its lack focus on terrorism.