By Peter Trankner
The US president has recently not only snubbed Ukraine but also other long-standing allies.
For some time now, US President Donald Trump has been busy duping the last allies of the United States, making it more or less clear to them that the United States can no longer be relied upon. Trump apparently sees alliances as beneficial to only one thing: namely, the United States — or better yet, himself.
Accordingly, in order to lower the price of diesel in the US — the current level of which could put him in trouble in the upcoming midterm elections — he has eased his recently enacted tougher sanctions against Putin’s Russia and agreed with the Russian leader that Russia will supply the US with 300,000 tons of diesel oil in the short term.
The diesel supply, for which Trump has publicly thanked Putin, is also at odds with a law passed in 2022 that prohibits Russian energy supplies to the US for the period that Russia is waging war against Ukraine. But what does Trump care when it comes to getting out of problems that he has maneuvered himself into through his politically inadequate and strategically amateurish war against Iran?
However, a one-time delivery of 300,000 tons of diesel will not help Trump, because it covers only two days of US demand. It will therefore not have a lasting effect on the price of diesel at petrol stations. Observers expect that this will only be the first delivery, serving as a door opener for a longer-term supply of Russian diesel to the US.
That is why Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has now offered that Russia can immediately increase its diesel exports to the US to the level of three million tons. If Trump pursues this, the diesel deal would not only be a one-off violation of the law but a broader disregard for the American legal framework. This is the consequence of an understanding of politics that knows no guidelines, but rather sees politics as a sequence of transactions.
Trump’s internal problems, from the upcoming elections to the sharp dissent from within his own ranks, are, of course, only one issue. The other is the rapidly advancing loss of US credibility with its allies. Most recently, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia were affected. Ukraine was affected because the diesel deal could replenish the Russian war chest; with regard to the United States, Kyiv had hoped that Washington would finally take a tougher line to hit Russia harder economically. Therefore, President Zelenskyy has rightly complained about Trump’s diesel deal. Trump’s response was that Zelenskyy was not a legal president at all because presidential elections were long overdue in Ukraine. Anyone who relies on such a “supporter” is in a very bad position. Since then, it should be clear that anyone who relies on the US stands all alone.
Saudi Arabia, arguably the most important geoeconomic ally of the United States, has had to experience this in other ways when Houthi rebels allied with Iran first attacked Saudi oil infrastructure and then targeted Riyadh’s airport with drones and missiles. Presumably, any other US president in recent years would have offered immediate military protection, which would have been easy for Trump, as strong forces of the US military are currently concentrated in the region.
Not Trump, who in his public statements acted as if he had nothing to do with the matter. Not only the Saudis but also the other oil monarchies on the Arabian Peninsula will not forget that the US failed to protect them against Iranian attacks and those of their proxies.
The US has lost its reputation as a reliable and efficient protecting power in the Middle East and will hardly regain it after the end of Trump’s politically devastating presidency.
Trump’s questioning of US alliances began with the Europeans, and by now, every halfway geostrategically informed politician in Europe has come to understand that the US can no longer be relied upon and that Europe must stand on its own feet in terms of security policy. Of course, submission as a security policy is not a new idea. Trump, in turn, has snubbed not only Europeans and Arabs but also his East Asian allies Japan and South Korea, canceling long-planned maneuvers on short notice while praising North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in the highest terms and calling him a friend.
It can be assumed that at the end of Trump’s presidency, the US will be left without allies on a global scale, making it significantly weaker and more vulnerable than it was when Trump’s second presidency began in January 2025 — even though they still possess the most powerful military machine in the world. Meanwhile, China is skillfully taking over more and more positions that have been abandoned by the US. Trump must recognize that this China is in a stable alliance with Russia, which Trump has tried in vain to soften in several meetings with Putin. Short-term deals will not entice Russia to break away from a geostrategic coalition.
In short, Trump’s actions have already led to a geopolitical disaster and it must be assumed that he will work on expanding it by the end of his term. Purposefully.