U.S. President Donald Trump miscalculated in talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Germany’s defense minister said Wednesday.
Since taking office, Trump has sought to broker an end to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — but his efforts have amounted to little and Kyiv’s allies have criticized him for playing into Russia’s hands.
“I don’t think he deliberately betrayed Europe. I believe he simply misjudged the negotiation situation with Vladimir Putin — and his own influence as the U.S. president,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told German public radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
The Republican leader’s “first mistake was right at the beginning, when he essentially conceded Ukraine’s NATO membership and some of Russia’s territorial demands before even entering into talks,” Pistorius said.
Trump — who has long touted his deal-making prowess and while campaigning claimed he could easily end the conflict — publicly ruled out Ukraine joining the transatlantic military alliance and said it was unlikely Kyiv would reclaim all of its territory occupied by Russia, to the consternation of Ukraine’s Western backers.
“That’s not how you start negotiations. And it’s a very weak position from which to pursue peace or ceasefire talks,” Pistorius added.
But the German defense chief — who served in former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet and retained his role under new leader Friedrich Merz — said Trump “seems to be slowly realizing that it’s not as simple as he thought,” and that he might need to use “different tools” to pressure Putin, apparently referring to sanctions.
Trump “also has to recognize that Putin isn’t going to be swayed this way,” Pistorius said.
Chris Lunday contributed to this report.
The post Germany’s Pistorius says Trump misjudged his influence over Putin appeared first on Politico.
