What are Donald Trump’s foreign policy plans now he’s back as President? - The Front Page

Donald Trump was sworn in as 47th President of the US earlier this week. Photo / Getty Images

US President Donald Trump has returned to the White House vowing to be a “peacemaker and unifier” – but his comments about other countries have already left many countries uncertain about what his plans for foreign nations are.

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly made claims about buying Greenland, Canada becoming the country’s 51st state, and taking control of the Panama Canal – a claim he reiterated in his inauguration address.

University of Waikato professor of law Alexander Gillespie told The Front Page that Trump’s comments are “some very entertaining rhetoric” but don’t appear to be serious.

“I think it’s the way of upping the ante to make negotiations a little bit more pointed so that he can renegotiate the deals that he wants.

“The broader issue you have is that Trump is not as aligned to an international rule-based order as his predecessors, so he’s willing to make deals to get the goals that he wants – sometimes deals that other Presidents may not have made.”

This week a ceasefire has been declared in Gaza between Israel and Hamas after 15 months of fighting. Although it was negotiated by the Biden administration, Trump has claimed credit as well. One of his negotiators was in Doha when the deal was reached.

“It signalled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Gillespie said Trump’s focus on security could mean that New Zealand may be pressured to increase its spend on security.

" He will expect other countries to do more in terms of the heavy lifting that America has previously done. And if you are a friend, you will be required to meet certain baseline expectations."

In terms of tariffs, which Trump has repeatedly said he would level against an unknown number of nations, Gillespie said he doesn’t envisage the President working in a a bilateral way.

“To me, it’s going to be more like a game of billiards, whereby there’s going to be a dozens of countries trying to scramble for position, trying to work out their relationship with Trump, and we will get caught up in those billiard balls dancing around the table.

“If you take one issue, like say Ukraine, and Trump says, ‘America decides we’re no longer going to fund the defence of Ukraine', but the Europeans say, ‘well, we are going to continue to fund the defence of Ukraine’, then for a country like New Zealand, we’re going to have to say, well, do we go with the Europeans or do we go with Trump?”

Listen to the full episode for more on the Gaza ceasefire, Trump’s association with Far Right leaders, and what the next four years may look like.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

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