'America first' or America alone?

The problem is that Trump sounds and acts like he does not care throwing the baby out with bathwater

Read carefully these lines from Lieutenant General H R McMaster, US national security advisor, and Gary Cohn, chief economic advisor to President Donald Trump, in a joint column published recently in the Wall Street Journal: “The world is not a ‘global community’ but an arena where nations, non-governmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage,” they wrote. “We bring to this forum unmatched military, political, economic, cultural and moral strength. Rather than deny this elemental nature of international affairs, we embrace it.”

This is presumably as close as it gets to the enunciation of a Trump worldview and foreign policy doctrine. And, it is a remarkable as it is nerve-racking in three important and different aspects.

This narrowest and crudest expression of realpolitik comes from two personalities whose appointment in the Trump administration was welcomed by many people inside and outside of the US because they were considered as being able to bring a more reasoned approach to foreign policy, to act as a bulwark against Donald Trump’s narrow and short-term vision of international relations. Of course we all know that the notion of “global community”, an over-used staple of any well-meaning speech in international diplomatic forum, sounds and looks in too many cases and circumstances more like hypocrisy or wishful thinking than an apt description of the realities of the ground.

However, there are situations or challenges such as the fight against terrorism, international drug trafficking, or the protection of the environment where this notion is worth advancing as a kind of low common denominator incentive for countries to work together. Its dismissal from two the most respected “brains” from the Trump administration highlights the extent to which the deleterious context in which people are engulfed when they get close to – or involved with – the new powers that be in Washington. That leaves Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary General James Mattis as the only two voices in the foreign and defense policy domains considered as cool-headed enough to temper the bullying animus that characterises this administration. And, Gen Mattis had a very hard time at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore trying to convince the US Asian allies that they could still see Washington as a reliable partner to guarantee their security. 

The second very worrisome element that emerges from the Op-Ed signed by Lt Gen McMaster and Mr Cohn is the purely utilitarian way in which the Trump administration looks at the US relationship with its traditionally allies. “We are asking a lot of our allies and partners, they write, but in return America will once again be a true friend to our partners and the worst foe to our enemies”. In other words, Europe and Asian allies cannot count on the US if they don’t meet expectations and requirements that will be set unilaterally by Washington. And Messrs McMaster and Cohn add: “We have a vital interest in taking the lead internationally to advance American military, political and economic strength.” So, it is not a question of working together to advance mutual interests or defend common values. It is just a matter of enrolling other countries for the benefit of US interests as Mr Trump will define them. Which country would wilfully want to be part of a relationship defined in such terms? What kind of cohesion could be expected in these conditions?

No surprise then that if the US president claimed his satisfaction after the recent NATO Summit in Italy, the other members of the Alliance could not hide their dismay. A template of the trans-Atlantic relationship which has existed for more than 70 years is today put into question. Of course there is more than reasonable ground for American impatience about the way the Europeans have been piggybacking on the US for their defence and President Barack Obama was as outspoken as his successor against “free-ridders”. There is also due consideration to be made about the need to rethink the mission and the modus operandi of NATO. The problem is that Mr Trump sounds and acts like he does not care throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And, again, nobody knows what is the ability of Gen Mattis – may be the soundest and most credible person in the whole administration – to bring the president back to a more reasoned perspective, or even how long will Gen Mattis be able to last in this environment.

The third increasingly worrisome element of this Trump vision of the world or foreign policy doctrine is the fact that the “America first” mantra with all its chest-thumping is increasingly translating into “America alone”. This administration is confusing its traditional allies and making them feel increasingly insecure while comforting its adversaries or competitors by the spectacle of the mess developing in Washington and by some of its self-defeating moves. The announcement that the US would withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement just prompted the President of the European Council Donald Tusk and visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to boast how Europe and China would now be the champions of the global environment. This is just plain vanilla rhetoric, as Europe and China have major differences on what they perceive their role in the fight against climate change and even how this fight will have to be conducted in a way which can be reconciled with sustaining the level of growth China considers necessary for itself.

Illustration by Binay Sinha

The US might be today less of the “indispensable nation” its admirers considered it to be in the past; the rebalancing of the global power set in motion by the rise of China, as well as by the lassitude of the American people about the cost of international extension have also reduced its ability to shape global events.  But there is still no way some international issues could be addressed without Washington’s active involvement. There is also no under-estimating the increased risks that an “America alone” means for global stability and security, as well as for the international economy.

The silver lining in the present state of a Trump administration beset by “affairs” and investigations, and at a low point in terms of popularity, is that the US Congress – especially the Republican Party – has now the upper hand and an increased leverage on the White House. This might well be the moment when the best hopes for a steadier course in US policy would rest on the shoulders of the moderate, more mainstream, segments of the Republican Party — with the support of some far-sighted democrats.
 

The writer is president of Smadja & Smadja, a strategic advisory firm

Twitter: @ClaudeSmadja