{"id":134568,"date":"2017-09-06T15:04:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T21:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134568"},"modified":"2017-09-06T16:00:10","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T22:00:10","slug":"trump-actually-foreign-policy-just-not-good-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/06\/trump-actually-foreign-policy-just-not-good-one.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump actually does have a foreign policy. Just not a very good one."},"content":{"rendered":"

One might think that Trump’s foreign actions are as inconsistent and zany as his domestic ones. But the author says there is one … and, not surprising given its simplicity, it isn’t working very well.<\/p>\n

The Trump doctrine, in a nutshell, is that the United States is by leaps and bounds the most powerful country in the world, and by all rights should be taking greater advantage of that power. Any agreement we make, with friend or foe, should favor us absolutely; if not, there\u2019s no reason for us to maintain it. When we tell other countries what to do, they had better listen, and if they don\u2019t, we shouldn\u2019t do business with them. Diplomatic and trade relations with the U.S. are privileges, and the threat of withdrawing those privileges is a shamefully underused lever for shaping other countries\u2019 behavior.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus Trump withdraws (or threatens to withdraw) from trade agreements he thinks are not sufficiently profitable to the US, wants an expensive build-up of military force, and suggests that cutting off all trade with China is both doable and desirable if China doesn’t stop trading with North Korea.<\/p>\n

The thing is, it’s not based on reality. Not even on past reality. Trump may be following rules that worked in cut-throat property deals, to twist the arms of municipalities or suppliers, but American leverage in military and economic power isn’t nearly that great, wasn’t designed to be used that way, and can’t actually be so used without doing a lot of harm to the US as well.<\/p>\n

Could we survive cutting off trade with China? Yes, but it wouldn’t be pretty (for either country), would likely throw the US into a huge economic downturn (we sell<\/i> a lot to China, you know), and the Chinese have a lot of leverage to strike back. Could we turn North Korea into a glass parking lot? Sure, but aside from the butcher’s bill in doing so, the collateral damage done to North Korea’s neighbors, and to America’s reputation, would be horrific (and that’s even with the assumption that the DPRK can’t yet hit US territory with something nuclear).<\/p>\n

Bluster and braggadocio only work if you don’t get called, or if you can back up your bluff. Trump can’t do either — and the nations he is going up against know it.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Trump Doctrine Falls Flat<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One might think that Trump’s foreign actions are as inconsistent and zany as his domestic ones. But the author says there is one … and, not surprising given its simplicity, it isn’t working very well. The Trump doctrine, in a nutshell, is that the United States is by leaps and bounds the most powerful country … Continue reading “Trump actually does have a foreign policy. Just not a very good one.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,35,10,17,349,380,1071],"tags":[1166,1167,1165,1077],"class_list":["post-134568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-big-business","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-homeland-security","category-military","category-nationalism-exceptionalism","category-trump","tag-foreignpolicy","tag-korea","tag-trade","tag-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/kim.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":136666,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/02\/asymmetrical-trade-warfare.html","url_meta":{"origin":134568,"position":0},"title":"Asymmetrical Trade Warfare","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 2-Jun-18 5:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This article has an element of genius about it. Trump doesn't care about what his economic policies actually do to the United States. He cares about looking strong, being admired for being tough and aggressive, and, pretty much, anything about him. Which makes striking back at him all the more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/trump-tower-vancouver.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":160865,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/04\/the-mafioso-foreign-policy.html","url_meta":{"origin":134568,"position":1},"title":"The Mafioso Foreign Policy","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Jan-26 3:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Nice country you got there. Shame if you forced us to kidnap your head of state.\"","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131549,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/16\/trump-promises-a-35-tariff-on-auto-imports-from-mexico.html","url_meta":{"origin":134568,"position":2},"title":"Trump promises a 35% tariff on auto imports from Mexico","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Sep-16 4:02am","format":false,"excerpt":"Um ...So there are certainly problematic issues with NAFTA, and with free trade provisions in general. But its not like this is just magic. If Trump imposes a 35% tariff to keep auto production in the United States, that will certainly keep, in theory, American autoworkers at work. But it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132098,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/23\/trump-plays-the-diversity-card-in-nominations.html","url_meta":{"origin":134568,"position":3},"title":"Trump plays the "diversity" card in nominations","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Nov-16 1:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Which I'm sure will engender even more Thanksgiving Dinner table discussions in some houses this week.For UN Ambassador, Trump has tapped (even before appointing a Secretary of State) Nikki Haley, the Governor of South Carolina. While Haley has limited foreign policy experience -- beyond going on some trade junkets on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136028,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/01\/guess-trump-doesnt-need-farm-vote.html","url_meta":{"origin":134568,"position":4},"title":"I guess Trump doesn’t need the farm vote","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 1-Apr-18 9:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Surprising absolutely nobody (except maybe the President of the United States), China is retaliating on Trump's Chinese aluminum and steel tariffs with 15% tariff on American fruits and nuts (China is the third largest importer of such items, or at least has been) and 25% on pork and other goods\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/american-and-chinese-flags.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136662,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/01\/trump-wants-to-ban-luxury-german-cars.html","url_meta":{"origin":134568,"position":5},"title":"Trump wants to ban German luxury cars","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 1-Jun-18 8:37am","format":false,"excerpt":"I would love to figure out if this is driven more by some vague sense that the US luxury auto market needs protection, or because Angela Merkel hasn't been sufficiently fawning to him. His reported comment that he doesn't want to see a single Mercedes or BMW driving down Fifth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/trump-merkel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134568"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134575,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134568\/revisions\/134575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}