Trump takes pride in the fact that he keeps his campaign promises. This is an important attraction to US voters fed up with electing somebody who then does not deliver as expected. So it should come as no surprise that with a hate filled castigation of the Islamic Republic which governs Iran, he yesterday scrapped the deal. This blog supports the deal and believes building upon it is the best way forward, but if you hate the deal and are glad America has walked away that’s fine, because the deal’s flaws and merits are not the subject of this post.
Two things are significant. Trump, in the style of 1930s dictators in Europe, has torn up a treaty which America had signed. Bang goes a huge slice of instinctive trust and bang goes a diplomatic standard which has prevailed since the destruction of Nazi Germany. I do not care whether Americans are really the goodies and I do not care whether something better may come later. I care that the signature of a world power on a dotted line has to be binding and trustworthy. That view is shared by very many Americans and all the rest of the world.
Next we come to the unsavory element of bullying allies. We are told that companies and countries who do business with Iran will face punitive sanctions. That is fine if it affects only US Companies. But it is so not fine at all if it affects British, French and German companies. Which brings us to the third and final point.
Once American leadership in Europe was acknowledged, nurtured and taken for granted. Now Europe has turned its back on American leadership. It recognizes America as a player and even more a problem under Trump. But Europeans are prepared to go their own way and defy Washington. On this Iran issue the EU, including Britain France and Germany, stand four square with Russia and China. That may not be in America’s long term interests. But the isolationist lobby goading Trump could not care less. They are happy so long as they can keep their guns.