Trump's Biggest Foreign Policy Success and Failure
My thought: Gaza ceasefire and ending alignment with India respectively
Today, the online news magazine NOTUS launched a new section called NOTUS Perspectives. It’s a forum with diverse voices discussing issues like higher education and the impact of AI.
NOTUS asked me to write about Trump’s biggest foreign policy success and failure. In 200 words or less. Here is what I had to say (and read the other submissions here):
President Trump’s biggest foreign policy success has been to help end the war in Gaza — the longest Israeli war since its founding, one that produced unprecedented death and destruction on all sides. Working with Arab leaders, Trump pulled together many of the existing ideas to end the war and facilitated a process that may bring peace to the region. He used his leverage and the goodwill engendered in Israel during his first term to force an Israeli prime minister loath to end the war to do just that. Yes, much more active diplomacy in March and April might have produced the same result earlier. Yes, many of the ideas in his 20-point peace plan were proposed by others before. But none of this in any way diminishes that Trump played the key role in getting it done.
Trump’s biggest foreign policy failure has been the alienation of India. A proud nation, which is both the fifth largest economy and the largest democracy in the world, has seen itself targeted by a president who does not appear to understand the value of the past quarter-century’s ever-growing U.S.-India alignment. India and the United States need each other to compete effectively against China. India needs the U.S. consumer market for its products, and the United States needs India for its talent. But all that is now in question, as Trump deported Indian immigrants in shackles, coddled Pakistan in the aftermath of a major military confrontation with India and imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports. India got the message, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to China to meet with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to retighten bonds that had frayed during the Indian-American rapprochement.
Gaza will only be a success if there is follow up. The onus is not just on Hamas, but also on Israel and Netanyahu in particular. In my view, T did not do the necessary preparation, including putting together a rapid intervention security forces to provide law and order. Finally, T is already on his next thing, and has a history of walking away after the he has enjoyed the initial adulation.