Despite all the lies and distortions, President Donald Trump has spent his
first week in office assembling a coherent and well-planned framework for
foreign policy. It is hiding in plain sight—frequently missed in the storm of
tweets and the attacks on domestic enemies. Read as a whole and in detail, with
attention to their larger single-minded purpose, Trump’s executive orders are
the blueprints for the most significant shift in American foreign policy since
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
The latest drafts of executive orders, several of which the president will
reportedly sign Friday at the Pentagon, are bold and breathtaking in their
reach. They are strategic and transformative. They are also poised to destroy
the foundations for the last 100 years of American-led peace and prosperity.
The orders question the very ideas of cooperation and democracy, embodying an
aggressive commitment to “America First” above all else. So much for the
“defense of the free world,” and the “march of freedom”—obvious soft-headed
“loser” ideas for the new team of White House cynics.
Trump is launching a direct attack on the liberal international order that
really made America great after the depths of the Great Depression. It is a
system of multilateral trade and alliances that we built to serve our interests
and attract others to our way of life. Through the European Recovery Program
(the Marshall Plan), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World
Trade Organization), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank,
among other institutions, the United States led a postwar capitalist system
that raised global standards of living, defeated Soviet communism, and
converted China to a market economy. Through the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) in Europe and a web of alliances in Asia and the Middle
East, the United States contained aggressive states, nurtured stable allies,
and promoted democratic reforms when possible. American power is unmatched
around the world because it can work through consensual relations with partners
in every region. None of our rivals have as many friends, and none of our
rivals can count on as much support abroad.
Self-absorbed islands never prosper, and they usually decline fast.
That was true, and essential for American security, until this week. With
his barrage of executive orders, Trump is taking America back to the historical
nightmares of the world before December 1941: closed borders, limited trade,
intolerance to diversity, arms races, and a go-it-alone national race to the
bottom. His executive order on “rebuilding the U.S. armed forces” calls for
“peace through strength,” but this document and the others he signed offer
nothing but unilateralism and militarization: more military spending, more
nuclear weapons, more use of torture (which is illegal), and more promises to
destroy ISIS and other terrorist threats. The executive orders promise to
curtail American participation in international organizations, prohibit whole
categories of foreigners from entering our country, and limit exchanges of
ideas and goods. This is not a United States any president from Roosevelt to
Reagan would recognize.
Coupled with Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Transpacific Partnership
trade negotiations, build a “huge” wall on the southern border, and impose high
tariffs on imports, the United States is left with a foreign policy that cuts
it off from the relationships that fueled its growth for 70 years. Where will
the markets and brains come from, when America is isolated and reviled? Where
will the capital to fund its debt come from, when it is in deep conflict with
the countries that buy its bonds (especially China)? And, most significant, how
can America anticipate and prevent foreign threats when it gets little help
from others? Trump’s executive orders are making the United States an
international pariah, which raises the costs for every element of its security
and economy. Self-absorbed islands never prosper, and they usually decline
fast.
The Trump team seems driven by its perception of enemies more than its
analysis of national interests. If the president and his advisers thought
seriously about the historical sources of America’s strength, they would not be
so quick to destroy the liberal world order that it built. They would also
think through the implications of the alternative order they are trying to
create. It sounds courageous to say the United States will jettison pesky
allies who do not “pay their share” and shut potential terrorists out of our
country, but do those angry actions really serve its interests? Do they make
America stronger, safer, and more prosperous? Almost certainly not.
By signing a series of militaristic executive orders at the Pentagon, Trump
is sending a clear message that his definition of the national interest is
purely focused on short-term chest-thumping and job hoarding, even as his
actions will destroy more jobs in the near and long term. He shows no interest
in nurturing a sustainable global economy, a livable planet, or the spread of
democracy. The executive orders reveal his deep antagonism to all of these
things, and the basic wisdom of American history. His actions are all about
appealing to his less-than-majority base of supporters within the United
States. He is intent on showing that he is boss, with “tremendous” support. The
nation be damned.
We are far from the dismal day when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. For
all of America’s current troubles, the United States is safer and more
prosperous than anyone could have predicted in December 1941. It is, however,
destroying the sources of its improved position in rapid succession. Each of
today’s executive orders is another demolished column. When the roof caves in,
America will be left weak, isolated, despondent, and defeatist—more like France
in 1940 than America in 1941. Republicans in Congress were correct to speak out
against President Barack Obama’s excessive use of executive orders. It now
falls to those same critics to stop President Trump’s global destruction by
presidential pen.
Written by Jeremi Suri
Jeremi Suri is a professor of global leadership, history, and public policy
at the University of Texas at Austin.
