WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – President-elect Donald Trump has announced his picks for several positions in his new administration this week including key members of his foreign policy team, giving the world a preview of how he may handle global affairs.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that Congressman Mike Waltz (R-FL) would be his new national security advisor. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is also widely expected to be his secretary of state.
“Choosing Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz suggests that he’s not interested in just sort of burning down the house, so to speak. These are traditional proponents of strong American alliances and, military forces and so forth,” said Michael O’Hanlon, Director of Research for the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.
Foreign policy during Trump’s first term was noted for being unpredictable and vastly different from previous president’s approaches to U.S. leadership on the world stage as he pursued what he called his “America First” agenda.
In 2024 on the campaign trail, Trump’s foreign policy ideas included increased tariffs on products from outside America, a more critical look at America’s role in NATO and has promised peace in the Middle East.
Experts believe the new administration’s foreign policy approach will be very different from what President Joe Biden has pursued.
“I think we can anticipate a number of significant differences,” said Edward Alden, Senior Fellow on the Council on Foreign Relations. “The biggest one is probably going to be his desire to, wind down U.S. support for the war in Ukraine. Whether that means, negotiating some kind of deal with the Russians or unilaterally reducing support for Ukraine, that’ll be a big difference.”
O’Hanlon said there is some certainty to how Trump will handle some foreign policy issues, such as his approach to China while others are less clear.
“On some things, I would expect that he’s pretty locked in by putting more pressure on Iran and putting more economic pressure on China,” he said. “Those kind of issues. I don’t really see a likelihood of major a shift, but the degree to which he’ll push any of these big ideas remains to be seen. And, something like Ukraine or Gaza, I think we just don’t know where we’ll be in a year with Donald Trump.”
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