The 'Trumpist' Foreign Policy and the American Tradition

“We’ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of

our country has disappeared over the horizon… From this day forward, a new vision

will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America First,”1

said Donald Trump, in his inaugural address on January 20, 2017. A billionaire

and a businessman, he entered the highest office after his mostly unexpected victory

in the 2016 presidential elections and became the first U.S. president with

no prior military or government service. Thus, he held no experience and limited

knowledge, if any, regarding international affairs. However, one may argue

that since his first public statement about politics almost forty years ago, he had

a set of beliefs providing him with a solid framework to shape consistent views

about the foreign relations of the United States2 even though his views denounce,

even contradict, the long-standing U.S. stance on the international scene. Acting

as the voice of the “discontented mass” within the American public, President

Trump’s vision was largely inspired by the rising -not only in the U.S. but also

in various regions of the world- populist hostility towards globalization and the

liberal international order established and maintained, since the end of WWII,

under global U.S. leadership.