Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump tries to douse own fires
At prayer breakfast, president reassures on alliances and Iran
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tried Thursday to shrug off worries over reports of combative phone calls with stalwart allies, telling Americans, “Don’t worry about it.”
But his reassurances only underscored concerns about whether his freewheeling efforts to reorder decades of U.S. foreign policy in two weeks will jolt strategic relationships beyond repair.
All of Trump’s top advisers have not even settled into their offices. His secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, showed up for his first day Thursday, imploring skeptical career civil servants to give the new administration a chance. Defense Secretary James Mattis set off for his maiden trip abroad, hoping to soothe nerves in South Korea and Japan after months of talk from Trump calling on Pacific allies to take a greater role in their defense.
Yet Trump has rattled friends and partners around the world with increasing frequency — two hemispheres in one day — forcing other U.S. leaders to issue statements, make phone calls, deliver speeches and visit allies in hopes of calming tensions.
“There is a lot of concern that it could lead to an unraveling of some of these relationships,” said Thomas Wright, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who has been focused on understanding Trump’s worldview. “U.S. power is based on ongoing relationships with like-minded allies. He’s not really a relationship guy. He thinks of himself as a deal-maker guy.”
Before the sun was even up Thursday in Washington, Trump was tweeting about Iran, warning in all capital letters that he was putting the country “ON NOTICE” for carrying out a medium-range ballistic missile test and attacks by proxy forces on a Saudi frigate.
The administration would not define what it meant by “on notice,” a term used a day earlier by national security adviser Michael Flynn, or explain whether it meant ripping up the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, including the U.S., an agreement Trump has called terrible. When reporters asked the president Thursday whether military action was in play, he answered: “Nothing’s off the table.”
Additionally, the U.S. was likely to impose new sanctions against Iran on as soon as Friday, officials said. They were expected to target Iranian companies, individuals and military units believed to be involved in the ballistic-missile program. Officials at the State and Treasury departments declined to comment.
A separate report in The Washington Post described a testy call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in which Trump denounced an agreement for the U.S. to take in refugees who had been detained while trying to reach Australia and ended the scheduled hourlong call less than halfway through.
Trump seemed to acknowledge at least the tone of those calls Thursday during the annual National Prayer Breakfast, saying that blunt talk was part of his strategy for fixing a troubled world.
“When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it,” Trump said. “They’re tough. We have to be tough. It’s time we’re going to be a little tough, folks. We’re taken advantage of by every nation in the world, virtually. It’s not going to happen anymore.”
As Trump raised tensions, others in Washington sought to provide assurance.
Sen. John McCain, RAriz., called Australia’s ambassador to the U.S., Joe Hockey, “to express my unwavering support for the U.S.-Australia alliance,” he said in a statement that recalled a century of battles that Australians have joined alongside U.S. forces.
“Australia is an important and essential ally,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. “It’s going to continue to be.”
Tillerson marked his first day of work Thursday by acknowledging turmoil in the department he will lead and urging anxious employees “not to let personal convictions overwhelm our work on one team.”
The State Department has been in uproar in recent days. More than 800 diplomats and Foreign Service employees signed a letter of dissent to register their concern after Trump ordered a suspension of most travel and immigration from seven mostly Muslim nations.
Mattis, meanwhile, held his first meeting with a foreign head of government, South Korea’s acting leader, Hwang Kyo-ahn, promising to continue a united effort to confront North Korea, whose nuclear ambitions threaten the region.
The situation was far more tense in Iran.
Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a former foreign minister, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency using his own tough talk. He called Trump a “puppet,” a “novice” and an extremist.