President Trump is “undermining” the American-led international system in a way that will only help non-Western countries, a leading European Union official warned Friday.
“The rules-based international order is being challenged … not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor: the U.S.,” European Council President Donald Tusk told reporters before the G-7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada.
“We will not stop trying to convince our American friends and President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all,” Tusk said. “Because it would only play into the hands of those who seek a new, post-West order, where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist.”
Tusk made those comments amid U.S. disputes with Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union over “trade, climate change and the Iran nuclear deal.” Trump also said Friday that Russia should be readmitted to the G-7 summit, an annual meeting of leaders from the world’s seven largest industrialized democracies.
The bloc used to be known as the G-8, but Russia was suspended following the annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine — “the first gunpoint land grab in Europe since the end of World War II,” as a former NATO official put it.
Tusk’s remarks about a “post-West” order recalled a comment from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who at the Munich Security Conference in 2017 declared an end to the era that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and called for a revision of international arrangements.
“If you want, you can call it a ‘post-West’ world order, when each country — based on it’s sovereignty, within the rules of international law — will strive to find a balance between its own national interests and the national interests of partners, with respect for cultural, historical, and civilization identity of each country,” Lavrov said then.
He gave that address even as European leaders still worried at the time about Trump’s commitment to the mutual defense provision of the NATO treaty. Months later, Lavrov added that NATO proponents are “doomed to failure” in the 21st century.
“The North Atlantic Alliance has remained part of the Cold War paradigm as it tries to find a reason for existence,” Lavrov said in July. “NATO has destabilized and continues to destabilize the security structure in Europe.”
Russia feels threatened by the expansion of NATO into its near-abroad, as former Soviet satellite states seek membership in the Western alliance. Lavrov’s July speech marked the same occasion in which he defended the invasion of Ukraine, despite previous denials that the Russians had intervened at all.
“Had we not done what we did, we would have betrayed our civilization which our forefathers developed over centuries and who then spread it over vast territories,” Lavrov said.
With Lavrov’s comments in mind, Tusk suggested that the G-7 leaders should keep their debates a family fight.
“Of course we are open to reasonable arguments, whenever something doesn’t function well. There is always room for debate,” he said. “Even in difficult times like these, and despite all the differences, there is still much more that unites us, than divides us. It is far too early for our adversaries and enemies to celebrate.”
