Trump’s Foreign Policy Has Courted Disaster. Why Hasn’t It Caused One?

Trump’s Foreign Policy Has Courted Disaster. Why Hasn’t It Caused One?
President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, Washington, Feb. 4, 2020 (Pool photo by Leah Millis via AP).

These are heady days for U.S. President Donald Trump. Secure in the knowledge he will survive impeachment, Trump is also coming off a string of what he can and does depict as foreign policy successes.

Closer inspection reveals these “successes” to be mixed bags at best and little more than hot air at worst. His trade war with China produced a “phase one” deal that leaves most of the underlying tensions unresolved, with any potential gains remaining hypothetical. And so far, his so-called maximum pressure campaigns against North Korea, Iran and Venezuela are 0-for-3 when it comes to concrete strategic gains.

Much to his critics’ chagrin, however, these and Trump’s other pseudo-accomplishments, such as the updated NAFTA trade deal, now rebranded the USMCA, will make for useful soundbites on the campaign trail this year. In all likelihood, Trump will weave them into a broader narrative, one that paints him as an iconoclast outsider who was unafraid to grab hold of the various third rails of the U.S. foreign policy consensus—and who lived to tell the tale.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review