Trump steps down as leader of the free world

Since he took the oath of office, President Trump has taken America giant steps back from the global role it has played for three generations, upending the world order. In a trifecta of presidential pronouncements, the president has declared that the United States is no longer a reliable ally, trade partner or leader in addressing what should concern everyone on Earth: climate change.

In the 3,000 words of his speech announcing his decision to begin withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, the president did not use the words “climate change.” Instead, he cited a barrage of statistics from a study paid for by the coal industry to support his decision, thus choosing pollution over a clean-energy future for our nation.

The climate accord was signed onto by every nation on the planet but two, Syria and Nicaragua. “I represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” the president said from the Rose Garden on Thursday. Eighty percent of Pittsburgh voters, that city’s mayor later noted, voted for Hillary Clinton for president.

While in Europe last month, Trump took on Germany, our partner in climate policies and trade, telling German officials privately their trade policy was “bad, very bad.” Then he held back on offering a guarantee of mutual defense to European leaders assembled at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ceremony. The NATO alliance led by the U.S. has secured the peace in Europe for 70 years.

Instead, the president has criticized the NATO allies for not paying their fair share of the NATO defense costs. The president is right about this (by agreement, each member nation is to pay 2 percent of its gross national product — Germany is paying about 1.2 percent) but instead of resetting relations and opening the door to renewed commitments to pay, he strained them more.

And, though many nations, including the United States, have reasonable and long-standing concerns about Germany’s economic policies, those concerns center more on capital flows than trade.

The president rounded out the week by refusing, at the Group of Seven summit of leaders of the world’s rich industrial economies, to endorse the agreement on combatting climate change.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of the

largest economy in Europe, said at a campaign rally in Munich that Europe “really must take our fate into our own hands.” The days when Europe could rely on others was “over to a certain extent. This is what I have experienced in the last few days.”

The statement underscores a change in political rhetoric — instead of a “special relationship” with the U.S., Germany and Europe in her view will have to go it alone. Merkel has political ambitions as she seeks re-election. She wins no votes by standing up for Trump. She needs to undermine her opponents by campaigning for a united Europe as she has been accused of lacking solidarity.

With the election of Emmanuel Macron as the French president, Merkel is counting on the power of that renewed partnership to hold the fractious 28nation EU together. That will prove difficult, especially with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which will resist anything perceived as a FrancoGerman edict.

Yet it is vital to U.S. and global security that Europe remain strong and open and able to resist intimidation by Russia and other powers. Germany and the other EU nations do need to step up to the plate but in the past, they have been unable to do so.

America cannot be first without our trans-Atlantic partners. The U.S. needs Europe to remain united, democratic and at peace, and Europe needs the U.S. Our societies, economies and security needs are intertwined. Disavowing the importance of this relationship is damaging to Europe and undermines U.S. interests.

Trump’s protectionist stance on trade, security and global cooperation come as no surprise — he said in his February speech to the joint session of Congress that “my job is not to represent the world.”

In his actions in these past few weeks, Trump has made good on that statement and effectively stepped down as the leader of the free world.