TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY
Gram Slattery
REUTERS
Republican President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to fundamentally alter the U.S. relationship with NATO during his second four-year term and rapidly bring the war in Ukraine to a close.
On the campaign trail, he floated sending armed forces into Mexico to battle drug cartels and slapping expansive tariffs on friends and foes alike.
Here is a look at the foreign policy proposals Trump has pledged to advance once he takes office on Jan. 20:
NATO, Ukraine and European allies
Trump has said that under his presidency, America will fundamentally rethink “NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.” He has pledged to ask Europe to reimburse the U.S. for “almost $200 billion” in munitions sent to Ukraine, and he has not committed to sending further aid to the eastern European nation.
Trump cut defense funding to NATO during the latter part of his first term, and he has frequently complained America was paying more than its fair share.
On the war in Ukraine, he has said he would resolve the conflict even before his inauguration.
However, he faces legal restrictions on negotiating with foreign leaders before taking office, and he has made little tangible progress on the issue since winning the Nov. 5 election.
He told Reuters in an interview last year that Kyiv may have to cede some territory to reach a peace agreement.
Vice President-elect JD Vance has signaled preliminary support for freezing battle lines at their prevailing positions as part of a negotiated settlement.
Trump signaled in early April that he would be open to sending additional aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan, he remained mostly silent on the issue during contentious congressional negotiations over a $61 billion aid package later that month.
China, trade and Taiwan
Trump frequently threatens to impose major new tariffs or trade restrictions on China as well as on some European allies.
His proposed Trump Reciprocal Trade Act would give him broad discretion to ramp up retaliatory tariffs on countries when they are determined to have put up trade barriers of their own. He has floated the idea of a 10% universal tariff, which could disrupt international markets, and at least a 50% tariff on China.
Trump has called for an end to China’s most favored nation status, a status that generally lowers trade barriers between nations. He has vowed to enact “aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States.”
On Taiwan, Trump has declared that it should pay the U.S. for its defense as, he says, it does not give the U.S. anything and took “about 100% of our chip business,” referring to semiconductors. He has repeatedly said that China would never dare to invade Taiwan during his presidency.
Mexico and narcotics
Trump has said he would designate drug cartels operating in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations and order the Pentagon “to make appropriate use of special forces” to attack cartel leadership and infrastructure, an action that would be unlikely to get the blessing of the Mexican government.
He has said he would deploy the U.S. Navy to enforce a blockade against the cartels and would invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport drug dealers and gang members in the U.S.
The Republican Party platform also calls for moving thousands of troops deployed overseas to the U.S.-Mexico border to battle illegal immigration.
Conflict in Israel
After first criticizing Israeli leadership in the days after its citizens were attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Trump has said Hamas must be “crushed.” While his rhetoric has been bellicose, he has proposed few policy solutions, besides saying he would be tougher on Iran, which is closely linked to groups classified by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
Trump also says he would seek to deport all “resident aliens” who are Hamas sympathizers. “Resident alien” is a legal term used to describe U.S. permanent residents, also known as green card holders.
Climate
Trump has repeatedly pledged to pull out of the Paris Agreement, an international accord meant to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He pulled out of it during his term in office, but the U.S. rejoined the accord under Democratic President Joe Biden in 2021.
Missile defense
Trump has pledged to build a stateof- the-art missile defense “force field” around the U.S. He has not gone into detail, beyond saying that the Space Force, a military branch that his administration created, would play a leading role in the process.
In the Republican Party platform, the force field is referred to as an “Iron Dome,” reminiscent of Israel’s missile defense system, which shares the same name.
