Foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration

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U.S. foreign policy during the presidency of Donald Trump (2017–2021) was noted for its unpredictability and reneging on prior international commitments,^[1][2][3][4] upending diplomatic conventions, embracing political and economic brinkmanship with most adversaries, and stronger relations with traditional allies. Trump's "America First" policy pursued nationalist foreign policy objectives and prioritized bilateral relations over multinational agreements.^[5][1] As president, Trump described himself as a nationalist^[6] while espousing views that have been characterized as isolationist, non-interventionist, and protectionist,^[7][8][9] although the "isolationist" label has been disputed,^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]} including by Trump himself,^[16][17] and periods of his political career have been described by the alternative term “semi-isolationist.”^[18][19][20] He personally praised some populist, neo-nationalist, illiberal, and authoritarian governments, while antagonizing others, even as administration diplomats nominally continued to pursue pro-democracy ideals abroad.^[21]

Upon taking office, Trump relied more on military personnel than any previous administration since the presidency of Ronald Reagan,^[22] and more on White House advisors than on the State Department to advise him on international relations; for example, assigning policy related to the Middle East peace process to senior advisor Jared Kushner.^[23] Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was Trump's first Secretary of State, appointed for his experience and contacts in many other countries, particularly Russia.^[24] During Tillerson's tenure at the State Department, budget cuts and Trump's reliance on White House advisors led to media reports that the State Department had been noticeably "sidelined".^[23] Former CIA director Mike Pompeo succeeded Tillerson as Secretary of State in April 2018.^[25]

As part of the "America First" policy, Trump's administration reevaluated many of the U.S.'s prior multinational commitments, including withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the INF Treaty, the UNHRC and UNESCO, and the Paris Agreement, and urging NATO allies to increase burden sharing. The Trump administration introduced a ban on travel from certain Muslim-majority countries and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He sought rapprochement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as part of efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, although North Korea continued to expand its nuclear arsenal. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal and increased sanctions against Iran, precipitating several confrontations between the two countries. He increased belligerence against Venezuela and Nicaragua while overseeing drawdowns of U.S. troops from Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan, while agreeing with the Taliban for a conditional full withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He also increased U.S. drone strikes in Africa,^[26] and continued the U.S.'s war on terror and campaign against the Islamic State terror organization, including overseeing the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019.^[27] In January 2020, Trump ordered a drone strike in Iraq which assassinated Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani.

The Trump administration often used economic pressure to enforce its foreign policy goals.^[28] Trump's import tariffs agitated trade partners and triggered a trade war with China. He also signed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), a continental trade agreement which replaced NAFTA. Trump's administration brokered the Kosovo–Serbia agreement, the Abraham Accords, and subsequent Arab-Israeli normalization agreements with Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.