After Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party placed great hopes on a reset of relations with Washington, which were damaged during the Biden administration because of Tbilisi’s increasingly anti-Western rhetoric, authoritarian policies, and steps towards a rapprochement with Russia.
The Georgian-American relations reached their lowest point in the history of independent Georgia after the Georgian Dream decided to reinitiate in parliament the law on foreign agents – which critics say is Russian-inspired and aimed at the civil society and independent media – and later even declared its intention to suspend the country’s accession to the EU.
As a result of the Georgian government’s actions, in November 2024 the U.S. suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia. In December of that year, Washington imposed personal sanctions against a dozen Georgian officials and their families, as well as personally against the founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, accusing him of undermining democratic institutions and rapprochement with Russia.
With Biden and his team gone, Georgia’s leaders felt that the strategic partnership with the United States may be restored. However, the Biden era moves were followed, in spring 2025, by the MEGOBARI act, adopted by the U.S. Congress. The act brought new visa restrictions, and sanctions against high-ranking representatives of the Georgian authorities.
In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Congress, directly raised the question of whether the existence of an anti-American government in such an important region corresponds to the interests of the United States. He emphasized that if the answer turned out negative, then Washington would take all necessary steps to ensure that the Georgian leadership bore the corresponding costs. These words became another signal that the new U.S. administration does not intend to soften its course towards Tbilisi. Then, in the summer, the State Department confirmed that restrictions against Ivanishvili and other members of the ruling elite remain in force and are not subject to revision.
Bitter love letters from former lovers, or diplomacy a la Georgian Dream
The fact that Trump’s administration did not warm up to Tbilisi but instead continued to pursue the Biden era policy and even increased the pressure didn’t convince Georgian officials to backtrack on their democratic backsliding. Instead, they responded with a mix of defiance, and pleas, while at the same time they expressed their grievances towards the US, in open letters that have little to do with diplomacy and instead sound like bitter love letters from lovers that still cling to the hope of getting their partners back – but on their terms.
On September 1, the president of Georgia, footballer turned politician Mikheil Kavelashvili, published an open letter to Donald Trump. The document immediately drew attention—not only for its emotional tone but also for its attempt to appeal to themes traditionally close to Trump himself: criticism of the “deep state” and defense of “traditional values.”
Kavelashvili started by expressing his “deep respect” for the American leader and hopes that his presidency will bring “peace and stability throughout the world.” The Georgian president went on to say that a renewal of the strategic partnership with the US is “one of the main priorities of Georgia’s foreign policy”, but he complained about the Trump’s administration lack of attention to Tbilisi:
“For several months you have established close ties with all of Georgia’s neighboring countries… you have restored partnership even with Vladimir Putin. However, against this background your administration says nothing about Georgia, which causes surprise in Georgian society […] Your passivity in the Georgian people causes doubt and questions regarding how free and sincere are the actions of your administration from the point of view of strengthening peace in the region.”
Kavelashvili also warned Trump – somewhat ridiculously – that by ignoring Georgia he risks losing authority in the eyes of the Georgian people:
Many Georgian analysts note that Kavelashvili’s letter gives the impression not of a diplomatic document but of an emotional manifesto combining jealousy, resentment, and a desire to draw attention to an isolated government.
Kavelshvili’s open letter was not the first addressed by a high ranking Georgian official to the US president. In May 2025, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze did just that, complaining that after the change of administration there had not been a single high-level contact between the governments in Washington and Tbilisi. At the same time, the prime minister claimed that Georgia “remains the most reliable partner of the U.S. in the region.”
At the same time, Kobakhidze sharply criticized the MEGOBARI Act adopted by Congress, which provides for sanctions and visa restrictions for representatives of the Georgian Dream.
Washington ignored Irakli Kobakhidze’s letter, but he tried to give it a positive spin by saying that “even silence is a very important answer for us.”. Then, in mid-August Kobakhidze stated again that Tbilisi was counting on a “healthy attitude” from Trump and his administration, and was hoping to resume the strategic partnership which, per Kobakhidze, had been suspended due to the intrigues of the “deep state.”
From Partner to Problem
Washington had already repeatedly and quite clearly conveyed its position regarding the restoration of relations with Tbilisi. But these messages ran counter to the expectations of the Georgian Dream. For example, in July 2025, acting U.S. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan in an interview with Radio Liberty stated that before the publication of Kobakhidze’s letter, the government of the Georgian Dream had sent a private appeal to Washington:
“This letter was threatening, offensive, unserious. In Washington it was perceived extremely negatively.”
She added that she was supposed to personally deliver to Bidzina Ivanishvili a message from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but the Georgian oligarch refused, declaring that discussing state affairs before the lifting of sanctions was “inappropriate.” This refusal only underlined the dead-end nature of dialogue between Tbilisi and Washington.
In August, the U.S. State Department published its annual human rights report for 2024, where the situation in Georgia took a prominent place. The document speaks of arbitrary arrests, cruel treatment of detainees, pressure on journalists and the opposition, as well as impunity of officials involved in violations.
An additional sign of worsening relations were the hearings in the U.S. Congress on September 10. The Helsinki Commission held a session titled “From Partner to Problem: Georgia’s Anti-American Path.”
In the announcement of the hearings, it was especially emphasized that Georgia had once been a key U.S. ally and a “beacon of freedom in the Caucasus.” Today, however, the ruling party, in the opinion of American congressmen, is dragging the country back into Moscow’s orbit while simultaneously deepening contacts with Beijing. Such a turn is regarded in Washington as a direct threat to the interests of the United States in the region.
The session was chaired by the Commission’s chairman, Republican Joe Wilson, and co-chair, Democrat Steve Cohen. Georgia’s former president Salome Zourabishvili, and former defense minister Tina Khidasheli, head of the NGO “Civil Idea,” spoke at the session.
During the meeting, the co-chair of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Joe Wilson, stated:
“The government of the Georgian Dream, having falsified the parliamentary elections in autumn 2024, is dragging the Georgian people into dictatorship, deprives them of sovereignty and impoverishes them, betrays the country’s traditional allies, including the United States.”
The Georgian Dream needs to change course if it wants a good relationship with the US
The Georgian Dream’s clumsy attempts to get into Washington’s good graces only reinforced the image of the Georgian leadership as an isolated and desperate player seeking to shift responsibility for its own failures onto the “deep state.”
The U.S., far from being persuaded by such attempts, demonstrates consistency and repeats: strategic partnership with Georgia will not be restored without real reforms, democratization, and a return to the pro-Western course.
