Trump’s makeover of US diplomacy leaves many allies at a loss | “In Turkey, a key NATO ally, it’s now the Netherlands that convenes like-minded countries to coordinate on issues ranging from intelligence to travel advisories, all roles that Washington used to play, according to one envoy”

> Before President Donald Trump took office for a second time, European officials thought they had him figured out. He was transactional, they said, a man motivated by a good deal.

> Some bragged they knew how to do business with him based on their interactions with the self-proclaimed deal maker in his first term.

> They were in for a rude awakening. Trump in 2025 is not the same as he was in 2017.

> Like with most things in Trump’s tenure so far, the president’s second-term playbook on diplomacy marks a significant shift from the past. One Arab diplomat in Washington said it’s easier to do business with the Russians than the new administration.

> The White House has wrested global affairs from professional diplomats and dialed up its policy on everything from Russia to climate change, foreign assistance and global trade, rattling the State Department officials who are supposed to implement foreign policy on a day-to-day basis.

> That shock is cascading through ministries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa that sustained the US’s global alliances for a generation and underpinned the rules-based global order.

> “It’s disturbing and unprofessional,” said Camille Grand, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and formerly a senior official at NATO. “The change was sharp, brutal and of great magnitude. Civil servants are terrified, left unable to express US policies because they don’t have access to the big bosses.”

> One diplomat in a key European capital said they have been unable to discuss policy with Washington since Trump’s inauguration because their American counterpart has had no guidance and their boss quit just as Trump took power.

> Another Arab diplomat said everything is being handled through Washington now and other institutional channels are useless, with some American officials apparently left out of the loop entirely. Nobody knows who is a decision-maker on the American side, several diplomats said.

> In a key Middle Eastern country, US embassy staff were described as completely absent, leaving their peers without briefings after the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.

> As the US withdraws, other countries are stepping up to fill the gap. In Turkey, a key NATO ally, it’s now the Netherlands that convenes like-minded countries to coordinate on issues ranging from intelligence to travel advisories, all roles that Washington used to play, according to one envoy.

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