Former Republican President Donald Trump says he plans to fundamentally alter the U.S. relationship with NATO if he wins a second four-year term in November.
On the campaign trail, he has proposed sending armed forces to Mexico to fight drug cartels and slapping expansive tariffs on friends and foes alike.
Here are the foreign policy proposals Trump has pledged to push forward if he wins the 2024 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival:
NATO, UKRAINE AND EUROPEAN ALLIES
Trump has said that under his presidency, the United States would fundamentally rethink «the purpose of NATO and the mission of NATO.» He has vowed to ask Europe to reimburse the United States for «nearly $200 billion» in ammunition sent to Ukraine and has not yet pledged to send more aid to the eastern European nation if elected.
Trump cut defense funding to NATO toward the latter part of his term, and has frequently complained that the U.S. was paying more than its fair share.
On the war in Ukraine, he has said he would resolve the conflict even before taking office in January. Although he has put forward few tangible policy proposals, he told Reuters in an interview last year that Ukraine may have to cede some territory to reach a peace deal. Two Trump advisers told Reuters in June that they had presented a plan to end the war in Ukraine by conditioning any new arms aid on Kiev agreeing to sit down with Moscow for peace talks.
While Trump signaled in early April that he would be open to sending additional aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan, he was silent on the issue during contentious negotiations in Congress on a $61 billion aid package later that month.
CHINA, TRADE AND TAIWAN
Trump frequently threatens to impose major new tariffs or trade restrictions on China, as well as some European allies.
His proposed Trump Reciprocal Trade Act would give him broad discretion to impose retaliatory tariffs on countries that he believes have imposed their own trade barriers. He has floated the idea of a 10% universal tariff, which could disrupt international markets, and at least a 50% tariff on China.
Trump has called for an end to China’s most-favored-nation status, a status that generally reduces trade barriers between nations. He has vowed to enact «aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States,» and the GOP’s official platform advocates banning Chinese ownership of U.S. real estate.
On Taiwan, Trump has stated that he should pay the United States for its defense since, according to him, it does not give him anything and kept «close to 100% of our chip business», referring to semiconductors. He has repeatedly said that China would never dare to invade Taiwan if he were president.
MEXICO AND DRUG TRAFFICKING
Mexican drug cartels. image internet
Trump has said he would designate drug cartels operating in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations and order the Pentagon to «make appropriate use of special forces» to target cartel leaders and infrastructure, an action that would likely not have the blessing of the Mexican government.
He has said he would deploy the U.S. Navy to impose a blockade against cartels and invoke the Enemy Alien Act to deport drug traffickers and gang members in the United States.
Civil rights groups and Democratic senators have pushed for the repeal of that law passed in 1798, which gives the president some authority to deport foreigners while the country is at war.
The GOP’s new platform also calls for moving thousands of troops deployed overseas to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.
CONFLICT IN ISRAEL
After first criticizing Israeli leaders in the days after its citizens were attacked on oct. 7 by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Trump has said Hamas must be «crushed.» While his rhetoric has been bellicose, he has proposed few policy solutions, other than to say he would be tougher on Iran, which is closely linked to groups classified by the United States as terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
Trump also says he would try to deport all «resident aliens» who sympathize with Hamas. «Resident alien» is a legal term used to describe permanent residents of the United States, also known as green card holders.
CLIMATE
Trump has repeatedly vowed to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, an international agreement aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions. He abandoned it during his term, but the United States rejoined the agreement with Democratic President Joe Biden in 2021.
MISSILE DEFENSE
Trump has vowed to build a state-of-the-art missile defense «force field» around the United States. He has not gone into detail, other than to say that the Space Force, a military branch that his government created, would play a prominent role in the process.
In the Republican Party platform, the force field is called the «Iron Dome,» which is reminiscent of Israel’s missile defense system, which shares the same name.
WORLD WAR III
Trump has frequently warned that there will be a third world war if he doesn’t win the election, a line that has become a central part of his campaign narrative in the final months of the campaign.
«I tell you and I have made many predictions and this is not a prediction because it is very bad. I don’t want it to be a prediction. We’re headed into World War III territory,» Trump said during a Fox News town hall in early September.
The former president often refers to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Israeli-Hamas conflict and the ongoing tensions between Taipei and Beijing when making that prediction.