Donald Trump or Donald John Trump born on June 14, 1946. Trump has written up 19 books on business, monetary, or political points, however, he has utilized professional writers to do this. His first book, ‘The Art of the Deal was published in 1987. It was a New York Times Best Seller.
On June 16, 2015, Trump declared his application for President of the United States. On November 8, 2016, the American People conveyed a historic victory, and Donald Trump elected as 45th President of the United States.
Soon after that Donald Trump became the most controversial & talked-about President. Domestic policies to Foreign policies, there are massive debates in his actions. Few Scholars even blamed him for disruption because of his foreign policies.
To understand his policies, whether those bring disruption or tried to bring historical peace. We will discuss a few one by one.
Donald Trump’s attitude towards NATO was the first most debated issue.
‘North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato)‘ is a military alliance formed in 1940 for the collective security of the allied states.
The main objective of NATO was to counter the Soviet Union’s offensive. But during the cold war, it did not fight any major & was thus helping to avoid a full-scale war.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO emerged as a powerful dominant force under the patronage of the USA.
For security reasons, NATO has gone against several wars. A few are Bosnia & Herzegovina crisis, Kosovo & Serbia, Afganisthan, etc. NATO has launched ‘Operation Ocean Shield’ & ‘Operation Active Endeavor‘ to conquer piracy & drug trafficking issues.
But Nato has been criticized with time, on the ground that it invades only weaker countries for the narrow interests of the USA & its western allies.
Not only in other nations but Nato has also been opposed within the USA. The huge expenditure of NATO could create a major drawback for the US population. Nearly 70% of the total expenditure of NATO gets funded from the U.S.
After all this, Donald Trump calling NATO’s allies ‘freeloader‘ creates a massive controversy. According to some, Trump’s this attitude wasn’t only for economic purposes, he believes European states are being hypocritic. EU nations are using the USA for security reasons and they are doing trades with Russia.
Trump’s foreign policy in middle east-
In Nov 2020, he announced a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Later he did the same in Iraq.
Although Trump gets the credit for his initiative to normalize the relation between Israel and Arab Countries. For example, Bahrain started a historic field relation with Israel.
But his decision to withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal also gets massive criticized. Few experts believe that the decision might provoke Iran to make more resolute nuclear missiles.
Donald Trump took another controversial big decision in 2020. When he signed an agreement at Doha and ensured that the U.S. will withdraw troops if the Taliban commits on the same issues. Later the current president Joe Biden pushed it by announcing, by Sept 2021 U.S. troops will be withdrawn completely from Afghanistan. It can end decades of conflicts.
Both Trump & Biden have recognized the significant role in the Afghan Peace process.
Issues with North Korea
North Korea has always been an obstacle to U.S. foreign policy & national security. In 2017 North Korea had warned the U.S. of ballistic missile attacks.
But in 2018-19 Donald Trump became the first president to visit North Korea. During this time 3 meetings took place between two countries.
Although again North Korea has started the missile testing. South Korean President Moon Jae In has urged Joe Biden to follow the former president’s rules & learn from his mistakes. He believes the initiative taken by Trump was great.
Another most debated decision of Trump was the withdrawal of Military aid in Pakistan.
From the Cold War, PAK-US allies were the biggest ones in South Asia. Due to that, U.S. has been hesitant to take concrete action against Pak-sponsored terror.
But in 2018, Trump announced he will withdrawal around 300 million dollars of military aid to the Pak army.
There was another controversy, despite decreasing aid to the Pak army, Trump took active help of the Pak military in the Afghan Peace Process.
Inward-Looking Policy-
Analysts believe that the Inward looking policy of the U.S. can affect badly to the other smaller countries. Especially those who are the strong beneficiaries of the U.S. like African countries.
But on the positive side, Trump withdrawing the U.S. from NAFTA & TPP, he continued the liberal policies like MCC (Millennium Challange Corporation), Development Finance Corporation (DFC), African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA).
With the help of AGOA Sub-Saharan African countries gets free duty market access in the United States.
Trump had also launched his signature trade & investment initiative ‘Prosper Africa’ which facilitates U.S. investments in African countries.
Action against China-
For decades, China has practicing discriminatory trade policies for its own economic gains. China used to dumb their own cheap products to boost their economy. This brings difficulties to other nations like the U.S. India, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc. But most countries couldn’t raise their voice because of over-dependence on China. Finally, Trump rose his voice and we saw the U.S. China Trade War. In 2020, China commits that it will reduce the deficits.
Covid-19
Donald Trump was the first person to openly said China is responsible for Coronavirus. In early 2020, Trump alleged that the origin of the virus lies in Wuhan Institute of Virology china. But for a long time, no one took it seriously.
But later in 201 an article published by Nicholas wade, that there may be chances that the virus escaped from Wuhan-based Lab. Followed by a few more articles news came. From that time Trump’s claim is being credited globally. And recently trump expressed that a $10 trillion fine should be imposed on China.
Impacts in Quad-
From the U.S.-China Trade war, we can see some benefits in Quad. Although the U.S. is withdrawing troops from different countries, his interest in Quad security dialogue for Asia pacific is growing. China is slowly increasing its dominance in South Asia. To conquer it he pushed the quad dialogue & for the first time India, Australia, Japan & United States given a Joint Statement.
Conclusion-
The above points were few positive steps from his work. But we cannot deny his disruption. The biggest disruption created by Trump’s policies is his shocking attitude towards the International Organization. During Trump’s administration, the U.S. has withdrawn from key agreements & institutions such as UNESCO, UNHRC, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Iran Nuclear Deal, etc.
Donald Trump also obstructed WTO’s dispute settlement System & criticized WHO’s credibility to prevent the Pandemic.