WASHINGTON -- President Trump constantly touts his 'America First' agenda, but how will his controversial trip through Europe, and the walking-back of his comments on Tuesday, impact the United States on the world stage?

TENSIONS WITH GLOBAL LEADERS

President Trump also found himself on the receiving end of criticism regarding his handling of other world leaders last week.

The president spoke critically of U.K. Prime Minister Teresa May while visiting her country, in an interview in British tabloid The Sun.

And before that, he caused chaos at the NATO summit in Brussels by repeating his demand that America’s allies spend more on defense.

"Each time we go through one of these cycles where the president shows a desire to upend those relationships, it means that in the future we've got fewer countries that are going to be ready to stand up and be counted on America's side," said Jeff Rathke, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer and current senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

TRUMP MEETS PUTIN

On Monday, the president met in Finland with Russia President Vladimir Putin. When he was asked if he would denounce President Putin for Russia's interference in the 2016 election, the president said the following:

"You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server.  Why haven’t they taken the server?  Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee?  I’ve been wondering that.  I’ve been asking that for months and months, and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media.  Where is the server?  I want to know, where is the server?  And what is the server saying? 

"With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.  My people came to me -- Dan Coats came to me and some others -- they said they think it’s Russia.  I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. 

"I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server.  But I have -- I have confidence in both parties.  I really believe that this will probably go on for a while, but I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server.  What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC?  Where are those servers?  They’re missing.  Where are they?  What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails?  Thirty-three thousand emails gone -- just gone.  I think, in Russia, they wouldn’t be gone so easily.  I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails. 

"So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.  And what he did is an incredible offer; he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people.  I think that’s an incredible offer."

Trump's comments came in stark contrast to U.S. intelligence assessments that say they are certain Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee in 2016, and other election interference.

On Tuesday, back in the White House, he sought to clarify:

 "I thought that I made myself very clear by having just reviewed the transcript.  Now, I have to say, I came back, and I said, 'What is going on? What's the big deal?' So I got a transcript.  I reviewed it.  I actually went out and reviewed a clip of an answer that I gave, and I realized that there is need for some clarification.

"It should have been obvious -- I thought it would be obvious -- but I would like to clarify, just in case it wasn't.  In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't.' The sentence should have been: I don't see any reason why I wouldn't -- or why it wouldn't be Russia.  So just to repeat it, I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't.'"

The summit with Putin capped off a week of international diplomacy that Rathke said leaves many of our allies questioning whose side we're really on.

Rathke added that Trump's initial refusal to accept findings of Russian election meddling hurts the U.S. broadly.

"The more we talk down and weaken our own capabilities, the less influence we have to shape world events in ways that protect American interests," Rathke said.

'FUNDAMENTALLY REORDERING RELATIONSHIPS'

Rathke said the American system is designed so that the president has the final say when talking about foreign policy. So as Trump toys with who is a friend and who is a foe, the consensus among experts is America's standing in the world, from trade to security, is changing.

"The world will move on without us," said Dr. Lara Brown, director of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. "And that is going to be the legacy that President Trump has affected."

"He is fundamentally reordering the economic, political and security relationships in the world," Rathke said. "And that has a longer lasting affect than just one presidency."

Speaking to the press from the White House on Tuesday, Trump also reversed course by saying he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

But the president added that other people could have been involved.