America's global influence under Trump is declining, warns former US ambassador to Russia

Perceptions waning as Washington seeks to strike North Korean peace deal, diplomat warns

Former ambassador Thomas Pickering warned America is 'declining' overseas even as 'the drums are beating' around North Korea (REUTERS/Jason Reed)

Global perceptions of America are souring even as the country struggles to avert war on the Korean Peninsula, a former ambassador warned.

“We are, I think, in the eyes of people overseas, declining,” Thomas Pickering — whose resumé includes serving as ambassador to Russia, Israel and the United Nations — said on CNN, adding: “That’s not something that I think the United States needs or wants in terms of being able to lead the international community.”

For evidence, Mr Pickering cited a recent Pew Research Center study finding that attitudes towards the US “have taken a dramatic turn for the worse, especially in Western Europe and Latin America”. The median mark for America was 49 per cent approval, a steep decline from the 64 per cent approval registered in the waning years of the Obama administration.

At the same time, the study found strong backing for America among South Koreans (75 per cent approval) and a comfortable 57 per cent rating from Japanese people — two nations that have been consistently threatened by Pyongyang’s belligerence, which has included firing multiple ballistic missiles over Japan.

Two outcomes of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula could be armed conflict or “chaos” Mr Pickering warned. He said “the people in the region, particularly China don’t want either of those” and that Russia was “jumping in to see what they can do to prevent chaos on their border”.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Thomas Pickering: In the eyes of people overseas the US’s influence on the world stage is declining https://t.co/r6M6lujzXo

— New Day (@NewDay) December 27, 2017

He praised Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for promoting a diplomatic route “to begin to take this military pressure and this sanction pressure in the direction we want to see it go with various steps that are going to lead I hope, toward denuclearisation without conflict”.

The Trump administration recently contradicted Mr Tillerson’s suggestion that the US might begin negotiating with Pyongyang without preconditions.

And while Donald Trump and his surrogates have consistently said they seek a peaceful resolution, they have also repeatedly floated the possibility of a military intervention — an outcome Mr Pickering believes could come to pass.

“The US public is not interested I think in another war, particularly in Asia, but that’s what’s happening around here and the drums are beating,” he said.