By some accounts, U.S. President Donald Trump "emerged victorious" from the recent NATO meeting in the Netherlands. He accomplished what no other American leader had since World War II. He persuaded European nations to commit to significant increases in military spending.

All but one of NATO's 32 members endorsed a nonbinding plan to increase combined defense expenditures by tens of billions of dollars. The agreement was more a victory for Trump's bullying than a victory for diplomacy. Since assuming the U.S. presidency in January, Trump and his team have coerced Europe into their new commitment.

During his election campaign last year, Trump said he'd encourage Russia to do "whatever the hell they want to NATO countries that don't pay." Last February, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO defense ministers: "Now is the time to invest (in defense), because you can't make an assumption that America's presence will last forever."

Although his tactics weren't admirable, his goal was. Europe needed to do more. Finland President Alexander Stubb said, "We're witnessing the birth of a new NATO."

However, European nations – in fact, all countries – should insist that Trump's America pay more for defense, too; in this case, the world's defense against global climate change. The U.S. is responsible for most of the greenhouse gases lingering in the atmosphere today, and it remains second only to China in current emissions.

Trump's policies will make America's role in climate change even worse. He has frozen federal funds created during Joe Biden's presidency for clean energy investments – investments needed for the U.S. to join the world in achieving net-zero carbon emissions. He has decimated the government's climate science research and emasculated its ability to anticipate weather disasters.

His energy policies are spurring more fossil energy production, even though the United States already leads the world in producing oil and gas, two of the fuels responsible for climate disruption.

Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time. In February, he canceled $4 billion in U.S. contributions to the international Green Climate Fund.

When he pulled the United States out of the Paris pact during his first term, many U.S. states filled the gap with their own clean energy goals and net-zero carbon commitments. This time, Trump has instructed his Justice Department to halt states from implementing climate programs.

Trump even plans to eliminate the government agency that helps U.S. communities anticipate, respond to, and recover from weather disasters, and he wants to halt federal funding for these purposes. A U.S. program that tracks Trump's decisions counts 100 decisions he and his administration have made to roll back or eliminate climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Trump has also pulled the United States out of international programs that aim to address problems for which America is not as directly responsible. He has withdrawn the U.S. from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the World Health Organization, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the UN's Human Rights Council.

His administration eliminated the important U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which administered humanitarian programs worldwide, focusing on public health, education, and disaster recovery. The medical journal The Lancet estimates the loss of USAID will lead to 14 million deaths worldwide from malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, and other diseases over the next five years. In March, an organization that tracks the effects of Trump's cuts to USAID estimated they had already been responsible for 15,000 deaths, including 1,500 children.

Unfortunately, it appears that many other leaders are intimidated by Trump and his use of tariffs and other "weapons" to punish dissent and noncompliance. When the G7 countries met in June, they removed climate change from the agenda to avoid "riling" Trump. They reportedly addressed it only obliquely in a discussion about forest fires.

Trump's isolationism has an impact on global efforts. "The retreat of the U.S. from these institutions weakens global governance, reducing coordination in health, human rights, and climate policy," explains an analysis in the publication Modern Diplomacy. "The U.S. has historically played a dominant role in global institutions, and its absence reduces their effectiveness and legitimacy. Health crises, human rights advocacy, and climate initiatives become less coordinated without U.S. involvement, and funding shortages emerge as a key challenge since the U.S. was a major financial contributor to these organizations."

In short, the United States is not fulfilling its responsibilities as a global citizen under President Trump.

There's an old saying in the U.S.: what's good for the goose is good for the gander. In other words, fair is fair. Trump found a way to persuade European nations to take more responsibility. Other world leaders should apply the same type of pressure to him.