Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?

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🗓️ 7 February 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

A lot of labels have been applied to Trump's foreign policy approach. America First, Isolationist, transactional, imperialist, protectionist. "I'm a nationalist and a globalist" he told the Wall Street Journal during his first term.

In his inaugural address last month, Trump made comments suggesting his foreign policy will be characterized by restraint, saying, in part, success should be defined by the "wars we never get into."

Yet in the same address, he also said, the United States will take back the Panama Canal.

In his first campaign, Trump ran on the idea that the cycle of the United States intervening in the Middle East should come to an end.

And on Tuesday of this week, he said that the U.S. will "take over" the Gaza Strip, after relocating the Palestinians, who live there.

Trump has promised a new approach to American foreign policy. Is there a Trump Doctrine? And what is it?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's a question that's sometimes hard to answer. What is President Trump's foreign policy?
0:06.6	Is it one that is governed by restraint? Maybe if you go by his inaugural address.
0:11.4	We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end,
0:18.2	and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.
0:22.4	Or maybe it will be defined by expansion.
0:24.9	He has threatened to take over Greenland, make Canada the 51st state.
0:28.8	He has plans for Panama, too.
0:30.7	As he mentioned, in, yes, that very same inaugural address.
0:35.0	China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn't give it to China.
0:40.1	We gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back.
0:43.3	Maybe the answer to what defines Trump's foreign policy is rooted in his criticism of the wars
0:48.3	in Iraq and Afghanistan, which helped him win the Republican nomination way back in 2016.
0:52.7	This destructive cycle of intervention and chaos must finally, folks, come to an end.
1:01.6	Come to an end.
1:05.0	We've spent, at last count, $6 trillion in the Middle East.
1:13.6	And our roads have potholes all over.
1:17.6	Our highways are falling apart.
1:19.6	Our bridges are falling.
1:22.6	Our tunnels are no good.
1:24.6	Our airports are horrible like third world countries.
1:28.1	We got to start spending on ourselves.
1:30.4	And that might convince you that Trump wants to avoid nation building in the Middle East
	...

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