Trump-Putin meet will likely concern US allies

Significance

US-Russian ties have been strained in recent months, and the meeting could help mend this. Yet the meeting’s context is equally if not more important: what happens at the meeting will affect US-NATO and US-European ties, both of which have frayed recently.

Impacts

• The Helsinki summit could further undermine US-European and US-NATO ties.
• Any slippage in the US-North Korean relationship before Helsinki could dent Trump’s ‘deal-maker’ image.
• Foreign policy spats are possible between Bolton and Trump.