Press. voanews.com
U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric has sowed anxiety and
confusion about the foreign policy path he will pursue. During the Republican
primaries and in the general election contest against former secretary of state
Hillary Clinton the wealthy businessman was vague on some key issues, including
the fight against the so-called Islamic State group.
On other
matters he was consistent and adamant: advocating rejection of the 12-nation
Trans-Pacific Partnership, renegotiating the nuclear deal with Iran and
withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement; all centerpieces of the Obama
administration. The TPP remains important despite reports the White House has
given up on congressional approval, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters
in New Zealand Sunday.
Climate
change
As far as
the climate change treaties to which the United States has agreed "we will
wait to see how the next administration addresses this, but I believe we're on
the right track, and this is a track that the American people are committed to
because the majority of the American people believe climate change is, in fact,
happening and want to see us address it," Kerry added prior to heading to
Oman.
Despite
an incoming administration that appears intent on wrecking much of what he and
predecessor Clinton constructed, Kerry has instructed an orderly transition at
the State Department. "Our focus over the next couple months is making
sure the transition runs as smoothly and as efficiently as possible, State
Department spokesman John Kirby told VOA. The Trump transition team, he added,
will be warmly welcomed and the incumbents will "do all we can to ensure
they have the information they need to prepare to lead this department."
Foreign
policy
Profound
concerns about Trump's foreign policy direction are being expressed by former
senior officials appointed to posts under both Democratic and Republican
presidents. The president-elect has "denigrated our NATO allies while
praising Russia's Vladimir Putin, disparaged our Asian allies Japan and South
Korea, pledged to keep Muslims out of America and repudiated the Mexican people
in vulgar terms," said former undersecretary of state for political
affairs R. Nicholas Burns.
Trump's
"rash and unwise statements have already damaged American credibility in
the world," added Burns, now a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government. Regarded as a businessman who makes gut decisions rather than
mulling nuances, many foreign policy experts do not envision Trump devouring
thick briefing books or refereeing lengthy debates among advisors.
The
executive director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins
University's School of Advanced International Studies, Daniel Hamilton, told
VOA the relationship with Europe faces a transformation if the Trump White
House requires allies to "pay in full" for the U.S. security presence
there, as well as NATO itself.
Foreign
policy analysts also expect Trump to re-evaluate Obama's pivot to the Pacific,
but some predict he will conclude it best to leave intact the alliance system
with Japan and South Korea as an effective, long-term counter to China's rising
military might, and amid an escalating nuclear and ballistic missile threat from
North Korea.
Moscow
and Washington
A Kremlin
spokesman has declared President-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy approach
"phenomenally close" to that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "That
is probably a good basis for our moderate optimism that they will at least be
able to start a dialogue to start to clear out the Augean stables in our
bilateral relations," said Dmitry Peskov in remarks aired by Russian state
Channel One television Thursday.
Among the
most commonly heard names for Trump's selection as secretary of state are
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker and John Bolton, a
former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Corker, a
Republican, is regarded as intense, but a pragmatist and dealmaker.
Bolton is
a self-declared "libertarian conservative" known for his
confrontational personality and disdain for protracted diplomatic negotiations
and wary of treaties. Former speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican
Newt Gingrich, known for his tough stances on Iran and North Korea, is also
mentioned, although in recent days he has expressed a desire to be involved in
making policy decisions for the new administration, presumably from inside the
White House.
Others
under consideration, according to The New York Times, are former U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and retired Army General Stanley
McChrystal, who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Recruiting
a highly competent team below Cabinet secretaries for the new, inexperienced
team may prove a challenge amid vows expressed by some "Never Trump"
Republicans not to work in the new administration.
Talent
abounds in Washington, but experienced foreign policy specialists, be they
Republican, Democrat or independent, tend to be internationalists and if Trump
pursues a hardline isolationist approach, the loyalty of those underlings may
prove tenuous.
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