Trump's foreign policy: rethink NATO, troops to Mexico, boost tariffs

Republican former President Donald Trump is planning to fundamentally alter the US relationship with NATO should he win a second four-year term in office.

On the campaign trail, he has also floated sending armed forces into Mexico to battle drug cartels and slapping expansive tariffs on friends and foes alike.

Here is a look at the foreign policy proposals Trump has pledged to institute should he win the 2024 presidential election:

NATO, UKRAINE AND EUROPEAN ALLIES

Trump has said that under his presidency, America would fundamentally rethink, “NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.” He has also said that he would ask Europe to reimburse the United States for “almost $200 billion” worth of munitions sent to Ukraine, and he has not committed to sending any further aid to the eastern European nation if he were elected.

Trump cut defense funding to NATO toward the latter part of his time in office, and he has frequently complained America was paying more than its fair share.

On the war in Ukraine, he says he would resolve the conflict even before taking office in January. Though he has put forward few tangible policy proposals, he told Reuters in an interview last year that Ukraine may have to cede some territory to reach a peace agreement.

Two Trump advisers told Reuters in June that they had presented him with a plan to end the war in Ukraine by conditioning any further weapons aid to the eastern European ally on Kyiv agreeing to sit down with Moscow for peace talks.

While Trump signaled in early April that he would be open to sending additional aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan, he remained mostly silent on the issue during contentious congressional negotiations over a $61 billion aid package later that month.

CHINA, TRADE AND TARIFFS

Trump frequently threatens to implement major new tariffs or trade restrictions on China – as well as on some European allies.

His proposed Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, would give him broad discretion to ramp up retaliatory tariffs on countries when they are determined to have put up trade barriers of their own. He has also floated the idea of a 10% universal tariff, which could disrupt international markets.

Trump has also called for an end to China’s most favoured nation status, a status that generally lowers trade barriers between nations. He has vowed to enact, opens new tab “aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States,” and the official Republican Party platform calls for banning Chinese ownership of American real estate.

Trump rarely discusses Taiwan, or what he would do if China were to invade, beyond saying that China would never dare to invade if he were president.

MEXICO AND NARCOTICS

Trump has said he would designate drug cartels operating in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations and order the Pentagon “to make appropriate use of special forces” to attack cartel leadership and infrastructure, which would be unlikely to get the blessing of the Mexican government.

He has also said he would deploy the US Navy to enforce a blockade against the cartels and that he would invoke, opens new tab the Alien Enemies Act to deport drug dealers and gang members in the United States.

Civil rights groups and Democratic senators have pushed for the repeal of that act, passed in 1798, which gives the president some authority to deport foreign nationals while the country is at war.

The new Republican Party platform also calls for moving thousands of troops deployed overseas to the US-Mexico border to combat illegal immigration.

CONFLICT IN ISRAEL

After first criticising Israeli leadership in the days after its citizens were attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, Trump has since said that Hamas must be “crushed.” While his rhetoric has been bellicose, he has proposed few policy solutions, besides saying he would be tougher on Iran, which is closely linked to groups classified by the US as terrorist organisations.

Trump also says he would seek to deport all “resident aliens” who are Hamas sympathisers. “Resident alien” is a legal term used to describe US permanent residents, also known as green card holders.

CLIMATE

Trump has repeatedly pledged to pull out of the Paris Agreement, an international accord meant to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He did pull out of it during his term in office, but the US rejoined the accord under DemocraticPresident Joe Biden in 2021.

MISSILE DEFENSE

Trump has pledged to build a state-of-the-art missile defense “force field” around the United States. He has not gone into detail, beyond saying that the Space Force, a military branch that his administration created, would play a leading role in the process.

In the Republican Party platform, the force field is referred to as an “Iron Dome,” reminiscent of Israel’s missile defense system, which shares the same name.