Trump’s Foreign Policy Disaster
Trump’s Foreign Policy Disaster
Trump’s foreign policy has significantly eroded America’s global power and influence.
(Presidents Vladimir Zelinsky and Donald Trump in the Oval Office in February. | SOURCE: Foreign Policy/ Andrew Harnick)
“A second Trump term would see the return of realism with a Jacksonian flavor … The United States would be strong, and there would be peace,” argued Robert C. O’Brien in the 2024 July/August edition of Foreign Affairs. This is a common view held by Trump apologists, who claim that he is a shrewd realist who will restore American strength and make other countries respect the United States again.
However, this could not be further from the truth: Trump is not a realist. To the contrary, he practices foreign policy based on bullying and humiliation, without subtlety, and displays a naive view of both American power and the structure of the global order. This misguided approach has significantly degraded American strength on the global stage.
American power relies, in large part, on a network of relationships that have been nurtured since the end of World War II. This network, encompassing both our allies and enemies, is built on the basic notion that the United States will abide by its agreements, promote democracy, and act with consistency on the international stage.
This has generally been true for the past 70 years, regardless of who is in the White House. Presidents and their advisors have successfully formed and maintained strong relationships with their international partners, which have served as the primary medium for conducting international relations.
Astoundingly, in just under 100 days in office, President Trump has destroyed the advantage America has had for seven decades. Trump’s brash and hostile nature is ill-suited for relationship building, as shown by the numerous times world leaders have expressed negative sentiments about him in private. Unlike Trump, most world leaders possess the foresight not to insult their counterparts publicly. Even those who shower him in praise do so only to placate his ego.
This failure to form positive relationships with world leaders, with the notable exception of certain strongman-style dictators, does not lend itself to productive, good-faith negotiations. Trump has undermined global trust in America, which forms the basis of many negotiations.
Additionally, Trump’s hardball and mean-spirited diplomatic tactics have failed to achieve meaningful, tangible objectives, while destroying beliefs in American credibility. Trump’s recent interactions with Canada demonstrate this.
By minimizing Canada’s value as an autonomous country, callously suggesting it would be better off as the 51st state to the United States, and threatening high tariffs on Canada in retaliation for fentanyl crossing the border, Trump successfully remedied a nonexistent problem (less than 0.1% of fentanyl entering the U.S. comes through the Canadian border). In doing so, he created massive rifts in communication and collaboration with one of our closest allies. The concessions Trump has touted after his negotiations are ones Canada had largely already made before Trump was even in the White House.
Meaningless achievements in addressing either non-existent or misattributed problems seem to be a Trumpian hallmark of the past three months, with dangerously steep costs. Trump has erased the trust and good faith that have defined the U.S.-Canada relations for decades, as can be seen by Canadian disdain towards symbols of America, as well as a sharp reduction in Canadian tourism to the United States.
Part of the problem is the public and hostile nature in which Trump conducts negotiations, using social media and television spectacles. Had Trump brought up his concerns about border security less aggressively and through private discussions, the U.S. would not have faced the same backlash from Canada, and likely would have found more genuine cooperation on Trump’s concerns.
As with Canada, Trump’s foreign policy with other countries is also defined by his bullying tactics. In January, Colombia refused to take back deported migrants unless basic human rights standards were met in their transport and treatment. Besides the fact that Trump has damaged the U.S.’s credibility to the point of being lectured on human rights by Colombia, a country with a problematic history on the issue, Trump’s response of threatening to impose tariffs if Colombia did not accept the migrants was counterproductive and concerning.
Trump’s “victory” on this singular disagreement will be overshadowed in the years to come by the damage he has done to the relationship between the U.S. and a vital partner in Trump’s goal of fighting narcotics trafficking. No amount of leverage the U.S. has or will have over Colombia will equate to the value of willing cooperation from this ally, which seems to have been lost in current foreign policy protocol.
Trump used the same bullying tactics on Ukraine, humiliating Ukrainian President Zelensky on an internationally televised stage, forcing the Ukrainians to sue for peace from a position of weakness, and applying pressure to attempt to force them to give up their natural resources. His seeming interest in cozying up to Russia is a delusional policy that, combined with his hostile treatment of Ukraine, damages American credibility and strength in Europe.
From Europe's perspective, Russia is the single greatest threat to its sovereignty and national security. Trump has opened the potential for the U.S. to abandon Europe in favor of warmer relations with Russia, furthering this through humiliating Ukraine by blaming them for instigating the Russo-Ukrainian War, but also on his recent tariff plan, which includes all European countries except for Russia and Belarus.
Such apparent pro-Russia stances present Europe with a real and immediate threat to its safety and will force it to act accordingly. Trump’s actions with Ukraine and Russia have a real possibility of permanently destroying our relationships with the European Union, the third-largest economy in the world.
International relationships do not exist in vacuums. The fact that Trump has leverage over certain countries does not mean he always will. Indeed, much of his current leverage comes from the U.S. history of trustworthiness and consistency. If Trump continues to deplete remaining U.S. leverage, especially over allies like Ukraine, the EU, and Canada, then those countries will seek support elsewhere and begin resisting U.S. influence.
This is happening already, as the EU seeks to diversify its trade relations away from the U.S. due to an “irreparably damaged transatlantic relationship,” according to Bloomberg.
In spite of what Trump’s actions and rhetoric imply, the U.S. cannot go it alone. Military force and hard power only go so far, especially considering the Trump Administration’s stated desire not to get bogged down in long-term foreign wars. The power that Trump relishes depends on the very relationships that he is destroying. His power (and, therefore, U.S. power) is eroding on the world stage and will continue in that losing trajectory as resistance grows against his bullying.
Additionally, the U.S. will be more susceptible to attempts at coercion by adversaries like China, as the strength that comes from the U.S.’s current allied networks fades. China’s strength will be buoyed as countries seek to fill the void left by American support. Indeed, a nickname for President Trump in China is Chuan Jianguo, which means “Trump the Nation Builder,” because Trumpian policy benefits China’s global economic power.
On his current trajectory, Donald Trump will have done more than any figure in modern history to damage the United States' global standing. He will destroy the last vestiges of American global hegemony, handing the initiative and power to our adversaries: Iran, China, North Korea, and Russia, who will not squander the opportunity.
If American power is to be preserved, Congress must act now to curb the Administration’s actions on foreign policy by reaffirming support for Ukraine and NATO, limiting the executive branch’s ability to implement tariffs, and actively speaking up against Trump’s blunders. Otherwise, America’s time as a global superpower is likely to be a thing of the past.