During his brief tenure as president of the United States, the most compelling question for Donald Trump has been how he will reconcile the U.S. role as leader of the Western world with his "America First" agenda. There is no necessary contradiction between a desire to "Make America Great Again" and global leadership, but there have been fears that the U.S. would turn its back on the world in pursuit of narrowly defined nationalism. If last week's Group of 20 meeting in Hamburg is any indication, the worst fears are justified. Trump has no interest in global leadership, and is prepared to endure international isolation as he doggedly follows his instincts and his agenda.

Disdain for multilateralism has been a core component of the Trump presidency; he believes that the U.S. can bring its might to bear more effectively and force outcomes more congenial to U.S. interests in bilateral settings. He believes "the global community" is a rhetorical trick to impose excessive and unfair burdens on his country.

Nowhere is that logic more evident than in his response to the Paris climate change accord, an agreement that Trump withdrew from with relish after his first trip to Europe as president earlier this year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, host of last week's G-20 meeting, made shoring up of the climate agreement a priority at the conclave. The final G-20 statement noted the U.S. withdrawal but pointedly stated that other assembled leaders called the Paris deal "irreversible." In a news conference after the meeting, Merkel conceded that "the negotiations on climate reflect (the) dissent (of the G-20) all against the United States."