Trump-North Korea summit: 'We're more isolated and more at risk of war', warns former Obama special assistant

Ned Price is a former special assistant to President Barack Obama, and former spokesperson for his National Security Council

A former special assistant to the president during the Obama administration says that President Donald Trump’s decision to pull back from a planned summit with North Korea highlights that the president’s foreign policy approach — or lack thereof — has left the United States isolated and at greater risk of war.

Ned Price, who served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and also as a spokesman for his National Security Council, told The Independent that Mr Trump’s decision to cancel the North Korea summit sends a message to foreign allies that the US feels comfortable with unpredictability, even if it strains relationships around one of the most consequential international discussions of modern times.

“This always had to be something that we were in lock-step with our regional allies on. Primarily South Korea, but also China and Japan. This, I think, will be a reminder to all of those countries that Donald Trump's America can't be trusted,” Mr Price said. “Even when we do the right things and make the right moves one day, we may pull the rug out from under them in the next.”

Mr Trump announced that he was pulling out of the planned summit Thursday morning, citing North Korean officials who called Vice President Mike Pence “stupid” for suggesting that the US might pursue a nuclear disarmament agreement similar to the one agreed to by Libya in 2003. The North Korean official also indicated that a nuclear standoff could be on the table if negotiations break down.

The president followed up the withdrawal announcement with a televised address in which he said the US military is “ready if necessary”.

Mr Price said that the major shift could indicate that the White House is struggling to develop a coherent strategy for dealing with North Korea’s nuclear and missiles programmes, and that that lack of clarity is hurting the US internationally.

“There seems to be no strategy. There seems to be no principled approach. It seems to be fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants every single day, and Trump has tried to convey the notion that unpredictability is a good thing,” Mr Price said. “But, look, you look at where we are, and I think the poof is in the pudding in terms of that: We’re more isolated, we’re more at risk of war, and North Korea still has a nuclear arsenal.”

Mr Trump had planned on meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June, but the pre-meeting negotiations appeared shaky in the past week or so as the two countries tried to find common ground to start the negotiations.

The US had been pushing for a quick and immediate denuclearization from North Korea, and had repeatedly indicated that that level of commitment was necessary for the Trump administration to sit down at the negotiating table. North Korea had appeared reluctant to immediately give up their nuclear program quickly, and without assurances that they would be relieved from international sanctions.