Trump's falsehoods keep global leaders guessing

Washington

PRESIDENT Donald Trump's litany of false statements and spurious claims has opened a national debate on the fragility of a fact-based society. But overseas, where US allies and enemies parse a president's every word for signs of threat or reassurance, Mr Trump's falsehoods have prompted a different kind of alarm.

From defence treaties to trade pacts, foreign leaders are struggling to gauge whether they can depend on the United States to honour its commitments. They are sizing up a fickle president whose erroneous remarks on small issues cast doubt on what he might say on the big ones - the future of Nato, say, or the Iran nuclear deal - that involve war and peace.

On Tuesday, the president of the European Council went so far as to warn that Mr Trump was a potential threat to the European Union, including him along with major geopolitical challenges such as Russian aggression, China's assertiveness and terrorism. Donald Tusk, the council president, said in a letter to European leaders that Mr Trump's "worrying declarations" made Europe's future "hig…