Editor’s note: The following article is an opinion piece by Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Mansfield Foundation. Views expressed in opinion articles are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.

President Donald Trump’s abrupt and arbitrary decision to reduce joint military exercises with South Korea will exacerbate allied doubts of the reliability of the U.S. as a security and economic partner and embolden America’s enemies. 

The unilateral decision, which caught both Seoul and the U.S. military by surprise, was a trifecta of failure: degrading allied deterrence against the growing North Korean threat,