What will U.S. foreign policy look like during Donald Trump’s second term? After the former president and current president-elect vanquished Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday with a resounding victory, this is all anybody around the world is wondering. For good reason—the president of the United States is arguably the most powerful figure on the international stage and the policies he or she enforces can have life or death consequences for other countries.
Foreign leaders are already busy reaching out to Trump, either through phone calls or tweets. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol congratulated Trump on his win and praised his “strong leadership.” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba did much the same and is hoping to schedule a meeting with Trump sometime this month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the foreign leader with perhaps the most at stake during the 2024 U.S. election, met Trump in September and wasted no time showering him with warm words.
But make no mistake, there is a lot of worry around the world right now. Much of it is driven by feverish speculation about what Trump will or won’t do over the four-year period starting next January. Ukraine, for example, has a justifiable concern about being sold down the river; it’s no secret that when forced to choose between ending the war in Ukraine or helping Kyiv win it, Trump is more sympathetic to the first scenario. Japan and South Korea, America’s two closest allies in Asia, still have memories of the intense squabbles they had with Trump administration officials about cost-sharing for U.S. military bases in both countries, not to mention Trump’s questioning of the alliance system as a whole. China, Washington’s principal strategic competitor, isn’t expecting much in the way of improvement given Trump’s threats of slapping even higher tariffs on Chinese products. The Gulf States, meanwhile, expect the business-minded Trump to forget about human rights (let’s remember that Trump strongly defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the Saudi government-orchestrated murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi) and strike a series of economic and military deals.
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