Melvyn Levitsky, professor of international policy and practice at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, discusses President Trump's announcement that he intends to withdraw the U.S. from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
He spent 35 years as a U.S. diplomat under eight different presidential administrations and served as officer-in-charge of U.S.-Soviet bilateral relations and as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Levitsky says "America First" does not mean "America Alone," and the administration should be careful not to abandon the agreements that keep the country safe.
"I believe there are two basic reasons behind the potential withdrawal," he says. "First, it seems clear that the Russians have violated the treaty's provisions by producing cruise missiles of intermediate range. The second reason is that INF is a bilateral treaty, not inhibiting other countries, in this case, China, from producing intermediate-range missiles. However, the Trump administration has not cited this as a justification, nor has it suggested that China join the INF regime."
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