Trump Delivered Three Foreign Policy Triumphs
On China, cyber and the Middle East, the president has shifted America’s approach to the world in positive ways.
Standing tough.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/Getty Images
Foreign policy is typically a secondary issue in presidential campaigns. In 2020, it hasn’t even been that: Between Covid-19, the future of the Supreme Court and President Donald Trump’s inimitable antics, substantive debate about U.S. diplomacy has been relegated to the political margins.
Yet there’s good reason to examine what has gone wrong and what has gone right over the past four years. And while there is a preponderance of failure and self-harm in Trump’s foreign policy, in a few important places the administration has constructed a foundation of strategic progress. The Trump administration could perhaps build on those gains in a second term — but a President Joe Biden would actually be better placed to exploit them.