Karl Vick writes in Time magazine that Donald Trump’s off-the-cuff foreign policy is keeping diplomats up at night.
He gives four examples:
- Threatening nuclear-armed North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” before consulting his advisors.
- Announcing to the world that he has not ruled out a “military option” for Venezuela, although nobody asked.
- Endorsing the Saudi-led boycott of Qatar, despite the presence of over 10,000 American soldiers in the latter.
- Proposing to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, despite the country’s compliance and other world powers’ desire to keep it alive.
I would add:
- Raising doubts about America’s NATO commitment to the security of Europe.
- Creating uncertainty about the future of NAFTA.
- Promising a trade war with China one day, then praising Xi Jinping the next only to berate him on day three.
As a candidate, Trump said the United States should be “more unpredictable,” but — as Dean Klovens has also argued here — it is hard to see how starting bushfires everywhere is helping to make America “great again”.