Trump’s blitz is failing to deliver instant gratification, but it is changing the world
US President Donald Trump, April 21, 2025 in Washington, DC (Credit: Daniel Torok/White House Photo/Alamy Live News)
4 min read
After 100 days in power, a pattern is emerging in the handling of international affairs in Donald Trump’s second term.
He sets out an extravagant demand, demolishing old orthodoxies and involving a major benefit for the US. He accompanies this with threats of dire consequences if he does not get his way, fast. But instant gratification is rarely available in the tangled complexities of foreign policy, and Steve Witkoff, property tycoon turned Trump’s roving negotiator, is no Henry Kissinger.
The idea of buying Gaza, dispersing the inhabitants and constructing a Mar-a-Lago on the Med soon petered out. The Gazans were not selling or going anywhere. Trump lost interest and moved on.
Macron with his deep experience, and the Prime Minister with the promise of political longevity, have formed a highly effective duo
To end Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Trump proposed a 30-day ceasefire, a major reset of US-Russia relations and a decades-long mining concession for the US to extract rare earths in Ukraine. Trump’s tactic was to heap pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky, judging that he held no cards, and lavish attention on Vladimir Putin.
The rush for a quick deal on Ukraine has not worked. Zelensky, shrewdly advised by the Prime Minister and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, put himself in the position of saying yes to Trump’s proposal. Putin – still convinced he can win his war – said the equivalent of no, by imposing outrageous conditions. But he has so far avoided any penalty. As Russia continues to rain death and destruction on Ukraine’s cities, the war looks set to drag on.
Trump has moved on again, to tariff wars and a new deal on Iran. But each disruptive initiative leaves behind a lasting impact. His foray into the Israel/Palestine crisis has empowered those in Israel calling for the deportation of the Gaza population and annexation/settlement of the territory. The handling of Ukraine has shown that Trump has no interest in the longer-term security of Ukraine or of America’s European allies.
Since then-president Harry Truman signed up to Nato in 1949, the US has seen its allies as useful in advancing American causes and therefore worth defending. Trump has pulled the curtain down on that era, and no future president is likely to go back to bankrolling Europe’s defence.
The galvanising effect of this new reality in Europe, including the UK, has been the most encouraging development in these turbulent 100 days. The Europeans have woken up very late to the need for a large and durable increase in defence spending to deal with the new normal of a hostile Russia and an indifferent America. The extra cash now being promised will take years to turn into real military capability. But the framework for the future is taking shape.
Policy on defence industrial co-operation is likely to happen mainly through EU structures, given the bloc’s capacity to raise hundreds of billions of euros in loans through the European Commission’s ReArm fund. This transforms the context for the UK-EU reset. I welcome the government’s intention to agree an ambitious defence and security partnership at the UK-EU summit on May 19. That should enable the UK to participate in ReArm in return for contributing to it. Britain has the largest defence industry in Europe and needs to be at the centre of the action.
Operational military co-operation, to support Ukraine and potentially to organise the defence of Europe, is happening in the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ under UK/French leadership. Macron with his deep experience, and the Prime Minister with the promise of political longevity, have formed a highly effective duo. They are, in effect, creating a European pillar of Nato (plus Canada).
When I was a member of the UK Delegation to Nato in the Cold War, the idea of a European caucus in Nato was anathema to the Americans. But the landscape of European security has changed dramatically. It is now imperative that European allies and Canada work seamlessly together to ensure the security of Ukraine, and to provide a rock of security amid the shifting sands in Washington.
Lord Ricketts is a crossbench peer and former national security adviser
