Free Essay Describing the Influence of President Trump's Administration on Foreign Policy

The answer to the question of whether Presidents Trump's administration influences how the United States conducts foreign policy is arguable and debatable. President Trump's administration is marked as one of the controversial, and unique in American history. In his short time in office, a lot transpired including giving executive order, memoranda, and issuance of sequential presidential orders (Patrick, 2017). He pegged his campaign on three fundamental pillars: fairer deals with other states, less foreign interventions and border security (Melanson, 2015). Since the inception of Donald Trump's administration, several foreign policies, which existed for many years, were changed. Such changes on the US foreign policies thus beg the argument on whether Trump foreign policies have culminated into various issues. Therefore, this essay attempts to illustrate how President Trump's administration changed how the United States conducts its foreign policies.

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Historical Background

US Foreign Policy

Primarily, United States foreign policies are regulations that dictate how the US interacts with other nations; it also includes sets standards that dictate how its citizen's organizations and corporations interact with other countries. In its foreign policies, the United States is committed to helping build a democratic, secure, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American citizens as well as the international community. Foreign policies also regulate exports to promote local products and enhance the availability of local brands. The US is also committed to regulating nuclear technology among nations in an attempt to limit nuclear growth. The regulation of nuclear technology is aimed at protecting the international community against humanitarian crises that may come about because of war (Melanson, 2015). By allowing only a limited number of states to have nuclear technology, the US in conjunction with those countries can regulate how these technologies are used.

United States' foreign policy is committed to promoting and supporting commercial interactions with other countries with an aimed of doing business abroad for the benefit of its people and the international community. The US foreign policies also involve protection of the American business entities in foreign lands/country, provision, and promotion of international education to help develop an educated word, provision of humanitarian support in countries that have experienced crises such as war, drought, disease outbreaks, political instability, climate change among others.

The president of the United States in consultation with the Senate has the responsibility of negotiating and signing treaties with other countries on behalf of the people. The Signed treaties upon ratification by two-thirds of the Senate will become law that governs the relationship between the two or more countries in the treaty. The president in consultation with the Senate also appoints ambassadors and foreign ministers whose responsibility is to negotiate and come up with international policies, which will govern the relationship between the partner countries. The United States Congress is constitutionally mandated to write military as well as civilian budget; thus they have more powers in determining and approving the foreign policy as compared to the presidency. Congress has also been given powers to control how the country conducts business with other nations.

Post World War II Global Governance

The United States foreign policy since World War II has shifted from that of none intervention in which the states was not to intervene in the affairs of other countries no matter how gross and inhumane they were to a more idealistic form of interaction. As the country grew to become the world's superpower, the country's foreign policies have been characterized by Wilson form of interactions. The United States foreign policy post World War II was progressing towards making the country an arsenal of democracy (Melanson, 2015). In their foreign policy, the United States in an attempt to build their relationship with their allies without directly getting involved in their internal affairs financed, equipped and trained their allies' armies without necessarily sending the united states army to help fight for their allies.

During the reign of President Roosevelt, he oversaw the transformation of the United States foreign policy, to one, which was more inclusive and considerate to other nations. The United States foreign policies were pegged on four fundamental freedoms, which the government of the day wanted everyone to enjoy, these included: freedoms from want, freedom from fear, freedom of worship and freedom speech. The United States government wanted to create a world where everyone was free to share their opinions without fear of discrimination (Melanson, 2015).

Roosevelt government envisioned a world where anyone was allowed to practice any religion they deem fit and lived a life free of fear or want. These policies come at a time when the world was bleeding from a world war, which instilled fear and lack among millions of people around the globe, the United States government wanted to reverse this and bring hope to people. As the superpower, the country took responsibility of making the world a better place through coming up with foreign policies that ensured inclusivity freedom and abundance to all nations.

In an attempt to bring peace and reverse the earlier failures that brought about world wars, the United States together with its allies took steps to come up with the United Nations. The United Nations is an organization whose objective is to come up with foreign policies which uphold human rights, stop wars by resolving conflicts and ensure a new world order which was more peaceful and inclusive. Some of the first United States post world war II foreign policy was aimed at stopping Japan from attacking the Soviet Union, the US then come up with a foreign policy which was aimed at forcing Japan out of China (Patrick, 2017). Japan reacted by attacking the country, and this resulted in a war between the US, Japan, Italy, and Germany. Before World War II, the United States government gave loans to its allies to help them fight in the World War I, however, post-World War II; the government changed this policy and instead opted to give its allies grants to help them build their economies. This was because they saw their allies struggling to pay their loans thus limiting their economic development.

In what seemed like an attempt to foster peace and growth across the world USA allied with other nations and engaged in wars with different countries such as Germany, Japan, and Italy, which were causing instability in many countries then. In the 2nd century, the world experienced a surge in economic powerhouses other than the United States. Although the US remains influential, its economic output declined in the 21st century due to a rise other economies such as China, Russia, India, and the European Union. All the five countries are considered authoritative and have one interest in common: to ensure international stability, curb terrorism, and foster trade all of which are key if they are to remain the world's economic powerhouse (Melanson, 2015). Therefore, it is essential for the United States to find common ground to relate with the newly formed economic powerhouses if peace and prosperity are to be realized in the world. Nuclear terrorism, climate change, and increase in countries holding nuclear weapons have become the newest problem that the United States and the other four countries must look into, this, therefore, calls for an overhaul in the foreign policies that previously dealt with such issues.

Analytical Substantiation

The United States of America for many years have had foreign policies that were pegged on idealism, inclusivity peace, and freedoms. The country was the hope of many nations; the US government spent billions of dollars to help develop many worlds' economies and sent troops to foster peace in many jurisdictions (Patrick, 2017). The United States through its humanitarian policies have contributed to the education and salvation of millions of people around the world; its immigration policies saw millions of people travel to the country in search of a better future. The country's trade policy has created employment opportunity for many people in many countries and opened up nations to global trade.

The entry of President Donald Trump into the presidency saw many changes in foreign policies in the country. President Trump is a strong-willed leader who upholds personal diplomacy; he is a strong negotiator who believes in fair deals that benefits both parties. President Trump government in his philosophy of making America great again has reversed many foreign policies signed by his predecessors especially those he felt did not benefit the American people. The president thought that the American people are taking the burden of other nations at the expense of its people (Patrick, 2017). President Donald Trump proposed a budget of 2019 -2020 proposes a 23% cut on an international affair budget. These proposed cuts will cut the United Nations budget by one billion dollars and humanitarian assistance by more than 30%. The decrease will result in a reduction of the US foreign Aid worldwide thus reducing the impact that the country has had on the lives of millions of people all around the world through its aid and humanitarian agencies.

Notably, for many years the United States in collaboration with the European Union have fostered peace and economic development in the Middle East countries nonetheless president trumps administration changed its foreign policy in the Middle East by withdrawing all the aid it previously gave in support of the stability of these countries (Patrick, 2017). The new US foreign policies in the Middle East resulted in the emergence of political war loads that have exerted their influence on those countries. Today, the Middle East has become a focal point for political instability, war, and injustice.

Trump administration abandoned the Iran nuclear deal a deal that was signed by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council thus threatening the collapse of that deal. The withdrawal is also an indication of a lack of political goodwill by the United States to regulate nuclear technology in the world; this, therefore, sends bad precedence to other nations (Patrick, 2017).

Withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate accord was one of the most condemned foreign policy that faced president Trumps administration. In a world grappling with climate change, it is of great importance for nations of the world to come together and help protect the world from the effects of climate change. The Paris agreement was made within the united nation convention on climate change, and it touched on the mitigation of greenhouse gas emission, financing, and means of adapting to climate change. The accord is to be financed and implemented by the 197 UN member states who signed the agreement (Cox & Stokes, 2018). The government of the United States, however, withdrew from the accord claiming that climate change was not real and that it was an avenue for wasting the United States public money. The withdrawal of the US from the accord disrupted the budget and plans of the convention thereby derailing the plans that were put in place to jumpstart the project.

President Trump's government also imposed trade tariffs on NATO and demanded that all NATO members ought to contribute more towards the objective of the program. The sentiments by the president made NATO members uncomfortable forcing them to redefine their relationship with...