Trump gives Europe the finger

A resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations sounds like a grand thing, but in reality, it is typically an irrelevance with symbolic value at best. The UN’s broadest governing body consists of all of its member states, who typically agree on little – so practical measures go through smaller committees (the Security Council being the most significant).

As a result, the General Assembly is a place for gestures and statements. But in a strange way, that made the USA’s actions on Monday all the more telling.

When it came to marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the USA became one of 18 nations to vote against a European motion condemning Russia’s aggression in the attack. The resolution comfortably passed, with 93 votes in favour and 65 abstentions – but Trump’s America voted alongside Russia, North Korea, the Central African Republic and Sudan, instead of with its usual allies.

Such were the diplomatic knots in which the US has tied itself that America also ended up abstaining on its own motion in front of the General Assembly, after it was amended to condemn Russian aggression. It then passed a similarly symbolic motion – with no mention of Russian aggression – at the smaller UN Security Council. Russia and China voted with America, while the UK and France abstained.

It is not unprecedented for the US to vote differently to many of its allies at the UN. When it comes to votes concerning Israel, for example, the US often finds itself in a small minority of voting nations in the General Assembly, and often on the opposite side of the vote to its European allies.

But this is different: during a live shooting war in Europe, the USA has flipped sides on a vote with no practical implications. When it could have costlessly signalled solidarity with Ukraine – or at least with its Nato allies – it sent a loud and clear signal across the world.

What is particularly striking is that with these votes, Trump has handed Vladimir Putin a huge and meaningful win, for absolutely nothing in return. Putin has not had to offer anything, give anything up, or even say a single word in public to secure a major policy shift from the world’s biggest superpower.

Donald Trump, a man whose self-worth is in large part grounded in his image as a brilliant negotiator, has given away something for nothing. Putin has all of the value of seeing the Nato alliance weakened, and European leaders disturbed, and all over a largely meaningless vote. If this is what Trump will give away for free, why should Putin offer anything up at all? Why not see what else Trump will give away first?

This feels like the Trump White House is running geopolitics simply to own the libs. On the same day as the UN votes, Trump – who last week called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” – refused to say the same of Putin during a press gaggle alongside Emmanuel Macron, claiming that he chooses his words very carefully.

Upsetting America’s traditional allies seems to be the point of Trump’s foreign policy at present, rather than some accident or side effect.

The meaninglessness of the UN vote is in a way what makes it so alarming to the USA’s traditional allies. The question being asked across Europe is roughly this: if this is what Donald Trump will do when there’s nothing at stake, what will he do when there’s something in it for him?

European nations are faced with the reality of having US troops in their borders, and deep intelligence sharing arrangements with the US, when they have no idea as to the intentions or affiliations of the people running its government.

Yes, the UN vote was a gesture, but when it comes to international relations, gestures matter – and Trump just gave Europe and Nato the middle finger.