Former Clinton-era official worries about Trump's foreign policy

US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP

Wendy Sherman, the former chief nuclear negotiator with Iran and former North Korea adviser to former President Bill Clinton, said President Trump's decision to impose tariffs of up to $60 billion on Chinese imports came at a time when Washington needed Beijing's help in containing a nuclear-armed North Korea.

In addition, according to Ms. Sherman, the decision to replace Mr. HRMcMaster with Mr. Bolton, a politician with a “hawkish” ideology, could cause more risks in this trilateral relationship, especially ahead of a historic summit scheduled to take place between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Bolton has previously advocated scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and justified the importance of U.S. action against North Korea. Sherman, now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a senior adviser at the consulting firm Albright Stonebridge, said Bolton’s hawkish views could encourage Trump to do what he wants on North Korea and Iran.

“There are a lot of things at stake right now, and my biggest concern is that the president is dealing with each issue one by one, without understanding that all of these issues are interconnected, so we need to consider a comprehensive strategy,” the expert said.

Ms Sherman said US Defense Secretary James Mattis could try to ease tensions behind the scenes, but it was unclear how successful he would be.

President Trump has set a mid-May deadline for European powers to meet his demands for changes to the Iran nuclear deal, which would place limits on Tehran's nuclear program.

Sherman said French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Washington in April would be “crucial” to the fate of the deal, noting that Macron appeared to agree with his counterpart Trump on the issue./.