Trump reversing himself on several fronts

Published 8:35 am Thursday, April 13, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hasn’t been in the White House for 100 days, yet he’s already reversed himself on many of his key campaign promises.

In several interviews this week, the president has forged new positions on topics ranging from NATO to Chinese currency manipulation. They come as other campaign promises lag, including Trump’s vow to build a concrete wall along the length of the southern border and have Mexico pay for it.

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“One by one we are keeping our promises – on the border, on energy, on jobs, on regulations,” Trump tweeted Wednesday evening. “Big changes are happening!”

Here are some of the areas where a president who prides himself on his flexibility has been willing to dispense with past positions:

NATO

Trump cemented his shift in posture toward the 28-nation military alliance as he stood alongside its leader at the White House on Wednesday.

As a candidate, Trump had dismissed NATO as “obsolete,” saying the post-World War II organization wasn’t focused on combating the growing threat from terrorism and complaining that too many members weren’t paying their fair share toward defense.

He struck an entirely different tone Wednesday, one he had been warming up to during frequent telephone conversations with his world counterparts.

“I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” Trump said of NATO at a news conference with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg after they met in the Oval Office.

Trump still insists that NATO members meet a 2014 agreement to boost defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product within a decade. He has backup on this point from an important ally: Stoltenberg.

Currently, just the U.S. and a handful of other countries are meeting the 2 percent target.