The Unreliable Eagle: Trump's Foreign Policy of Destruction
by Ambassador Thomas Graham and David Bernell
The United States government under Donald Trump is conducting foreign policy in a thoughtless, inept, and offensive manner – with no regard for what has made the United States secure and prosperous – and it is managing to undermine and undo in eight weeks what the United States has committed itself to for the past 80 years.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has built and carried out a foreign policy that established close political and military relationships with fellow democracies in Europe, leading NATO to be a remarkably successful alliance in keeping the peace in Europe – the site that launched in a single generation (1914-1945) the two most destructive wars ever fought in the history of the world. The U.S. also encouraged and built a global economic system that facilitated open trade via the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and later the World Trade Organization (WTO). This system also promoted global investment, provided development capital through the World Bank, and economic stabilization funds through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), all of which sought to facilitate economic growth and integration, which was also part of the global architecture to foster peaceful relations among countries. Moreover, the United States was able to formalize these myriad relations through what has been termed an “alphabet soup” of international institutions: the UN, WTO, NATO, IMF, EU, OECD, and numerous others in what has become known as the “rules-based order.” And alongside all of this, American military power – with the U.S. Navy ensuring freedom of the seas (an important but often overlooked reason behind the growth of global trade), the “nuclear umbrella” guaranteeing the safety of Europe and Japan (while also preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons), conventional military forces stationed in countries around the world from South Korea to Poland, and the world’s strongest military force overall – made the United States the world’s biggest exporter of security. This collection of objectives, policies, practices, institutions, and relationships have constituted what we call “the American project.”
Highlighting the better elements of American foreign policy is not meant to sugarcoat it or avoid acknowledgement of its failures. The United States has been far from ideal in meeting its objectives, living up to its own standards, or following the very rules it helped to establish. It has at times been arrogant in its relations with others and unwilling to listen. It has been responsible for disastrous wars and harm to others, and it has sometimes let its friends down. When one considers, however, possible alternatives to what became the American-led post-WWII international order – a victorious Nazi Germany, or an unimpeded Soviet Union and the establishment of communist dictatorships around the world – the world that emerged after 1945 has been a far better outcome.
American foreign policy under Donald Trump is now turning away from these past successes, goals, and promises. It has consisted of denigrating allies while cozying up to Vladimir Putin and expressing admiration for dictators and strongmen, endangering NATO such that European countries are scrambling to ensure their own defense without having to rely on the United States, imposing tariffs on trading partners who buy billions of dollars of American goods and provide American businesses and consumers the products they need and want, killing off foreign aid programs that provide medicine and food to vulnerable populations around the world, suggesting territorial expansion into Canada and Greenland by taking land from longtime allies, threatening to abandon Ukraine to face the brutality of Russian rule, and conveying the idea that the United States can only succeed by weakening others or imposing costs on them. This is now “the American project.”
Is this what Americans thought they were voting for last November?
The Unhelpful Ally (With Friends Like This…)
The American relationship with Europe has been at the center of the global security arrangements the United States has established, and the role of Germany as the strongest state in Europe and a close ally has been particularly important. Following the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany as a state in 1949, and continuing after East and West Germany unified in 1990, the country has been not only a committed member of NATO and a friend to the United States, but also a strong democracy. It has maintained a “firewall” in its politics to ensure that there could never be another Hitler. No right-wing, authoritarian-leaning party that was part of the political process would ever be invited by the mainstream parties to join a governing coalition. In addition, Germany’s Basic Law says that if a political party takes an actively belligerent, aggressive stance toward the free democratic order, it can be declared unconstitutional and banned from electoral politics.
Germany has a right-wing party, the AfD (Alternative for Deutschland). It participates in electoral politics, though it has been ruled as “suspected extremist” in nature, and two of its regional branches have been ruled “extremist.” Its political fortunes have been rising, running on a platform that is anti-immigrant and xenophobic, while also saying that Germany should stop being so concerned with its Nazi past. In the most recent elections on February 23, it came in second place behind the Christian Democrats, but the AfD will not be part of the new government. The firewall remains strong. It is seen as having immense importance to hold the line against extremism and maintain German political legitimacy.
In spite of these circumstances, Trump and his acolytes, Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, have inserted themselves into Germany’s democratic politics and sought to undermine the country’s firewall, much to the dismay of German political leadership. In a speech on February 14 at the Munich Security Conference, Vance said that his greatest concern in Europe was “the threat from within.” He was not pointing to the AfD, but chastising the German government. Vance had actually met with the leader of AfD the day before his speech. He was saying in his speech that Germany was violating democracy by keeping AfD at bay. “There is no room for firewalls,” he said, adding that “You cannot win a democratic mandate by censuring your opponents…Nor can you win one by disregarding your own electorate.” And to make his point even more clear, he said that “there is nothing more urgent than mass migration,” highlighting AfD’s signature issue.
Elon Musk has also been part of the Trump administration’s focus on Germany, doing his part to elevate AfD too. An enthusiastic supporter of the party, Musk spoke via video to an AfD campaign rally prior to the election. He endorsed the party’s leader in her bid to become Chancellor. He echoed the AfD party line, saying that “There is too much focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that.” And he has gone all in for AfD, saying that it is Germany’s “best hope,” and the only party that can save Germany.
The Germans were furious. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius replied to Vance’s speech saying, “Democracy was called into question by the U.S. Vice President – and not only German democracy but all of Europe’s. He compares the condition here in Europe with those that prevail in some authoritarian regimes…This is not acceptable.” In the keynote address to the conference, Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Vance of effectively violating a commitment to never allow Germany to be led by fascists who could repeat the horrors of the Holocaust. His words suggested outright betrayal by the United States, pointing out how the Americans helped to overthrow Nazism. “Never again” is an important mission of a free Germany, and Scholz highlighted this, saying “Never again fascism, never again racism, never again war of aggression.” He added that, “There can therefore be no reconciling a commitment to ‘never again’ with support for the AfD,” and “That is why we will not accept outsiders acting on behalf of this party, interfering with our democracy.”
Der Spiegel, a prominent German publication, went even further. It not only characterized Vance as “unashamedly” interfering in the German election, it suggested that Trump and his team are ideological allies of German right-wing extremists, stating that “It is evidently the aim of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Elon Musk to ensure a party like the AfD come to power in Germany.”
If there are any doubts about what Germany’s direction will be in the near future, incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made it clear. He said that it would be "his absolute priority" to build up strong European defenses as quickly as possible and "achieve independence from the USA."
From Bad to Worse
The alienation of Germany by the Trump administration was eclipsed by its hostility toward Ukraine. Over the course of two weeks in February, Trump accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia and publicly called Zelensky a dictator. Then the United States voted against a UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, casting its vote with Russia, Belarus and North Korea. Finally, in an Oval Office visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 28, which was meant to set relations back on track and potentially secure an agreement on rare earth mineral rights, Trump and J.D. Vance instead berated and harassed their visitor, criticizing him for not being thankful enough for U.S. aid, saying that Ukraine was threatening World War III, and threatening to stop backing Ukraine if Zelensky would not make a deal with Putin. Zelensky’s White House visit was abruptly cut short, and few days later, Trump cut off military aid and intelligence to Ukraine.
Zelensky should have known better than to push back against Trump with facts and the truth, but the incident was an embarrassment to the United States, not to Zelensky. Reactions at home and abroad were swift and critical. The British Liberal Democratic party leader Ed Davey said that “This is thuggery from Trump and Vance, plain and simple,” while others noted that Trump and Vance displayed “all the finesse of a couple of small-time hoods,” and that Trump “sounded more like Don Corleone than an American president.” Another report described it by saying that, “No other president in memory has lashed out at a visiting foreign leader in the Oval Office on camera in such a vituperative way, not even at an adversary of the United States, much less a putative ally.”.
President Zelensky soon tried to repair the breach, and agreed to accept a 30-day ceasefire proposed by Trump. The United States, in return, restarted military aid and intelligence sharing. Still, great damage was done, and most importantly, Trump’s treatment of Ukraine and Zelensky revealed to America’s NATO allies that Trump cannot be counted on to stand with them. The result is that the Europeans are now making plans to secure Ukraine, and engaging in conversations about how to ensure their own defense and security without relying on the United States.
Europe to Its Own Rescue
Soon after Zelensky’s White House visit, the British quickly organized two summit meetings to discuss defense for Ukraine, peacekeeping in the country, and European security, with 26 countries, NATO, and the EU represented in the meetings. The United States, notably, was not in attendance at either gathering. Such an absence, unbelievably, now makes sense for European countries. Their attitude toward the United States is rapidly shifting. EU President Ursula von der Leyen has noted that while the U.S. is still an ally, it is not considered as a “like-minded” country with which deeper partnerships could be entertained. The British have therefore proposed a peacekeeping force of 10,000 European troops that could be deployed to Ukraine, and are ready to proceed without American participation.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also been outspoken regarding America’s changing foreign policy, calling for “massive, common funding” to build up forces for European defense and security, and has called upon European countries to purchase weapons from France, not the United States. He has stated that because “there are doubts over the support of the Americans towards Europe…[this] is Europe's strategic wake-up moment.” There have even been discussions regarding the extension of a French or British “nuclear umbrella” to guarantee European security against Russia (these two countries each have their own independent nuclear weapons arsenals).
Joining the Germans, British and French in their rapid reassessment of the United States are the Poles, who have been a close, staunch ally of the United States since the 1990’s. Poland knows firsthand the experience of Russian invasion and decades of domination by the Soviet Union, and they have already been ramping up their defenses since Russia invaded Ukraine. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland is expanding its army to 500,000 and talking to France about “gaining access” to an extended French nuclear deterrent. While he has not given up on the United States, he said that, “Poles will not adopt the philosophy that we are completely powerless and helpless, if President Trump has decided to adjust policy.” This will include potentially “reach[ing] for the most modern capabilities also related to nuclear weapons.”
Tusk pointed out that Europe does have the ability to defend itself (and managed to characterize the situation better than anyone), saying that, “Our deficit has been the lack of the will to act, having no confidence, and sometimes even cowardice. But Russia will be helpless against united Europe. It’s striking but it’s true. Right now, 500 million Europeans are begging 300 million Americans for protection from 140 million Russians who have been unable to overcome 50 million Ukrainians for three years.”
After only two months of a second Trump administration in office, The United States is considered unreliable and even dangerous by the countries that have been its closest allies and friends for decades. Trump has already done irreparable damage, and it will be very difficult, costly, and time-consuming for the United States to recover from his presidency, if it ever can. Trust and credibility take years to establish, but they can be lost in an instant. Americans will be paying a high price for Trump’s failures for a long time.