Some foreign leaders have reached out to Trump directly.
Around the world, US allies are taking steps to protect or advance their interests in the chance that former President Donald Trump returns to power after the November election is an even chance, based on the latest polls in swing states.
Reuters writes about this.
They want to avoid the cold slap in the face that Trump's “America First” policies dealt them last time, which included trade wars, crumbling security alliances, immigration crackdowns and withdrawal from the global climate agreement.
Reuters spoke to diplomats and government officials on five continents about preparations for Trump 2.0. The publication covered Mexican discussions about a new foreign minister who understands Trump's policies, the role of the Australian ambassador in hastily defending the submarine agreement, and negotiations between a German official and Republican state governors.
Some foreign leaders have reached out to Trump directly, despite the risk of irritating his election rival, Democratic President Joe Biden. According to a source with knowledge of the conversation, Trump recently received a telephone call from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and the Prime Minister of Hungary and the President of Poland met with him in person in recent weeks.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also held talks with Trump this month at a Florida resort. He later told reporters in Washington that their meeting was a private dinner at which they discussed the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel and the future of NATO.
The White House cited comments from spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre in which she said meetings like Cameron's were not uncommon. She declined to answer questions about Trump's meeting with Orban or the call from Saudi Arabia, which was first reported by The New York Times.
Trump's campaign said he had discussed security issues with every European leader, including Polish President Andrzej Duda's proposal that NATO members spend at least 3% of gross domestic product on defense. While they strive to spend 2%.
Jeremy Suri, a presidential historian at the University of Texas, said candidates' meetings with diplomats are normal, but said he found Trump's meeting with Orban and the call from Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman unusual.
Trump adviser Brian Hughes said: “The meetings and calls of world leaders reflect a recognition of what we already know at home. Joe Biden is weak, and when President Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, the world will be safer and America more prosperous.”
The campaign did not respond in detail to questions about other findings in the story, but campaign spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said, “America's allies are anxiously hopeful that President Trump will be re-elected.”
Germany's “Backtrack Diplomacy”
Much of the outreach to Trump has been less direct than meetings with the candidate. Germany is building bridges with Trump's Republican base at the state level, reminding party officials that it is investing heavily in American industry, writes Reuters.
Mindful that Trump threatened punitive tariffs on the German auto industry when he was president and now wants to impose a minimum 10% tariff on all imports if he returns to office, Germany is using a transatlantic coordinator to prepare for ” Trump 2.0″.
As coordinator, Michael Link leads what Berlin calls “backdoor diplomacy,” which crosses the EU and targets wavering countries where Germany is a major investor.
“It would be extremely important, if Donald Trump is re-elected, to prevent the punitive tariffs he plans to impose on EU goods,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Michael Link added that he met with the Republican governors of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama and Indiana. At each meeting, he explained why good trade ties supported Germany's presence in the United States. The largest exporter of American-made cars is BMW (BMWG.DE), and Germany says it directly and indirectly employs 860,000 Americans.
Link has also met with representatives of the Democratic Party, but his priority is lobbying those who can influence Trump.
Trump-Friendly Faces
Mexican officials are meeting with people close to Trump to discuss issues such as migration and smuggling of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, into the United States – issues on which Mexico could face more pressure from the United States under another Trump administration, according to two Mexican sources.
Trump said he would order the Pentagon to “appropriately use special forces” to attack the cartel's leadership and infrastructure, which is unlikely to receive the blessing of the Mexican government.
Mexican officials also discussed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was last renegotiated under Trump's presidency in 2020 and is due to be renegotiated in 2026, the sources added. In recent public appearances, Trump has praised the new version of the agreement.
And in a sign of how important personal relationships are under Trump, Mexico's ruling party is considering alternative candidates for the next foreign minister depending on whether Trump or Biden has a better chance of winning, two sources familiar with the move said. discussions. .
Presidential elections will be held in Mexico in June. If ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum wins, as expected, she will take office in October, a month before the US election. If polls indicate a Trump victory, she will likely choose Marcelo Ebrard as foreign minister, sources said.
Ebrard served as Mexico's foreign minister during Trump's presidency and was seen at home as holding his own in dealings with the administration. Sheinbaum's headquarters said she was not yet ready to announce her choice.
Trump's Japanese “whisperer”
To strengthen its diplomatic engagement with the Trump camp, Japan is preparing to send Sunao Takao, a Harvard-educated translator who helped former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bond with Trump over a round of golf.
Another former Japanese prime minister, Taro Aso, met with Trump in New York on April 23, according to a campaign official.
America's closest ally in Asia fears Trump could revive trade protectionism and demand more money to support American troops in Japan, officials say.
Britain's Labor Party, currently in opposition but a strong favorite in elections expected before the end of the year, may have to climb a steeper hill to achieve good relations with the Trump administration, writes Reuters.
Labour's nominal foreign secretary, David Lammy, once wrote in Time magazine that Trump was a “misogynist and neo-Nazi sociopath.” Lammy is now working to forge ties with Republicans, a Labor spokesman said. He added that Lammy has met with Republican figures who are being considered for positions in Trump's Cabinet, including Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state during the Trump administration.
Lammy declined to be interviewed, but said that many British politicians criticize Trump and he would represent Britain's interests as Foreign Secretary regardless of who occupies the White House.
Victoria Coates, Trump's former deputy national security adviser, said a Labor victory could spell trouble for US-British relations if Trump wins, citing “personal rancor” on Labor's part.
Alarm in Australia
Australia's ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, recently drew Trump's ire for criticizing the former president in the past. In an interview last month, Trump said, “If he's hostile at all, he won't stay there long.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended Rudd, saying he would remain as ambassador if Trump returned to power.
Behind the scenes, Rudd is trying to protect a key defense deal from being scrapped by Trump, an Australian diplomatic source said.
The Biden administration has agreed to help Australia take the first step toward building a nuclear submarine fleet by selling Canberra three to five Virginia-class attack submarines.
Rudd has pushed Canberra to quickly pass legislation that would bring it closer to US arms control standards and create a special nuclear safety body, in the hope that it would make the sale more difficult for Trump, the source said.
Michael Shoebridge of Australian think tank Strategic Analysis believes Trump's “America First” approach could still derail the deal.
“Trump has all the leverage to say the US Navy doesn't have enough, so Australia won't get anything,” a defense expert said.
Reuters was unable to ascertain Trump's position on this issue. During the election campaign, he did not voice any concerns about this agreement.
Restrained approach of South Korea
A former South Korean government official now based in Washington said the Biden administration is keeping a close eye on foreign governments and that Seoul prefers to understand Trump's thinking through lobbying firms in a “hidden way.”
The Washington lobbying circuit is abuzz with South Koreans eager to understand Trump's views on trade and investment, including what happened with Biden's Inflation Relief Act (IRA), a South Korean government official said.
IRA supports production renewal and energy transition. Trump also supports re-renewal, but not Biden's push to move away from fossil fuels to green energy.
Some US allies use lobbyists with ties to Trump, including Ballard Partners, which is run by Brian Ballard, a Florida lobbyist sought for his close ties to Trump. Ballard's clients include Japan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the firm's U.S. disclosure records and filings. He refused to name the others.
“Many members of our firm have been longtime allies of the former president,” said Justin Seifi, a partner at Ballard.
Japan's Foreign Ministry said it had sought advice and support from a wide range of experts. It declined to comment on its relationship with Ballard.
Recall, we previously wrote how Trump’s second presidency could “tear” Europe apart.
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