From the first day of the campaign, Donald Trump argued he was a dealmaker,
someone who would use insight, brinksmanship, and grit to transform America’s
relations with the world. He claimed that other countries were taking advantage of
America, tapping its open markets while keeping American firms shut out of their own.
More than that, Trump argued that this problem could be fixed quickly and easily with a
combination of tough talk and an unwillingness to accept the status quo.
In his first two years in office, Trump combined strong rhetoric with concrete policy
change. He moved to impose punitive tariffs on America’s major trading partners,
ordered the renegotiation of long-standing trade agreements, and made it clear that
America expects to get more from these agreements than it has in the past. However,
other nations did not respond as Trump predicted. Rather, they imposed additional
tariffs on American goods and stood firm against Trump’s demands for renegotiation,
raising the possibility of a global trade war that could reduce economic growth across
the entire world.
The case of Donald Trump’s attempt to reshape the global economy illustrates
the importance of foreign policy in American politics, as well as some common
misconceptions about how foreign policy gets made. Take the state of America’s
economy. As discussed in Chapter 15, over the last generation American politicians
have approved a series of treaties that reduced tariffs on imports and exports,
generating enormous profits for some American companies. However, trade
liberalization has hurt companies that could not respond to increased foreignTough talk, including threats of an
international trade war, characterized
the Trump administration’s foreign
policy strategy in the first year of
his presidency. For example, during
the June 2018 G7 summit, President
Trump’s confrontational attitude
toward American allies garnered
praise from his supporters, but left
fellow world leaders on edge.17
What is America’s role
in the world?
“American foreign policy must be more than the management of crisis.
It must have a great and guiding goal: to turn this time of American
influence into generations of democratic peace.”
George W. Bush“Upon my inauguration, I announced that the United States would return to
a simple principle: The first duty of our government is to serve its citizens,
many of whom have been forgotten. But they are not forgotten any more.
With every decision and every action, we are now putting America first.”
Donald TrumpForeign Policy
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