Foreign policy of the Jimmy Carter administration

This article is part of a series about Jimmy Carter
76th Governor of Georgia Governorship 39th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inauguration Policies Environmental Foreign International trips Pardons Appointments Cabinet Judiciary Tenure Camp David Accords Egypt–Israel peace treaty Torrijos–Carter Treaties Rabbit incident Iran hostage crisis Operation Eagle Claw Moral Equivalent of War speech 1979 oil crisis Carter Doctrine U.S.–China relations Timeline '77 '78 '79 '80–'81 Presidential campaigns 1976 Primaries Convention Debates Election 1980 Primaries Convention Debates Election Post-presidency Presidential Library Awards and honors Bibliography Activities Carter Center One America Appeal UFO incident
v t e

The United States foreign policy during the presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) was dominated by the Cold War, a period of sustained geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Upon taking office, Carter reoriented U.S. foreign policy towards a new emphasis on human rights, democratic values, nuclear non-proliferation, and global poverty. Carter ended U.S. support for the Somoza regime in Nicaragua and cut back or terminated military aid to Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Ernesto Geisel of Brazil, and Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina, all of whom he criticized for human rights violations. He negotiated the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, which provided for the return of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999. In an effort to end the Arab–Israeli conflict, he helped arrange the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. He also became the first U.S. president to visit Sub-Saharan Africa, a reflection of the region's new importance under the Carter administration.

Taking office during a period of relatively warm relations with both China and the Soviet Union, Carter initially continued the conciliatory policies of his predecessors. He normalized relations with China and revoked a defense treaty with Taiwan. He also continued the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviet Union, though he continued to criticize the Soviet Union for its human rights policies. After the start of the Soviet–Afghan War, he discarded his conciliatory policies towards the Soviet Union, began a period of military build-up, started a grain embargo, and provided aid to mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan. The final fifteen months of Carter's presidential tenure were marked by several major crises, including the 1979 oil crisis, the Iran hostage crisis, and the subsequent failed Operation Eagle Claw. These crises contributed to Carter's landslide defeat in the 1980 presidential election.