Trump's Triumph

It has been  some time since the change of administration in the USA but Donald Trump is still in the headlines for one reason or the other. Not being a politician, the man is a political rarity. America's leadership has always been put under a microscope by other countries of the world for the simple reason that whatever happens on Capitol Hill and in the White House affects the whole world. 

Trump's 'America First' policy went directly against China's carefully controlled economic aggression on the world. He believed more in a quid pro quo approach. Unilateral concessions from the US were made conditional on the US getting access to markets it wanted. The signal was that the US was not a benefactor for all the sundry. The country most affected by this change in rules was China. China had extracted the most concessions from the US over the years and was flouting America's trade rules. This was stopped by Trump.  China was forced to negotiate a trade deal which would correct the balance of payments which were hither to in favour of China.  

Even on the foreign policy front Trump managed to rein in Chinese aggression. China was told very bluntly that its aggression in the South China Sea would not be tolerated. The Quad was backed by the US. This was a major achievement of Trump. The Quad (comprises USA, India, Japan, Australia) is becoming a potent force against any power which would want to compromise freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. 

China's  entry into Eastern Europe was stopped by the US trade retaliation. CEE (Central and Eastern European) countries like Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Poland and others along with the EU were given an offer by China wherein China would invest in these countries to increase trade with them. In fact a big group - named 17 + 1 i.e. 17 European countries and the plus one (China) - was created sometime in 2012-13. The project was later brought under the Belt and Road Initiative. However, like all Chinese big ticket projects this too was big on promises but was lacking in actual investments. The real spanner in the works was put by America, led by Trump. Trump began to impose tariffs on Chinese goods which disrupted all Chinese calculations. With its trade disrupted badly due to the pandemic and the US actions, China began to renege on its promises and paid lip service to their commitments to the 17 + 1 Group. Today many of the CEE countries have decided not to participate in this venture. The reason for China's failure are Trump's quid pro quo trade policies. 

After giving Greece millions in loans, China had pressurised her to stop an anti China resolution in the European Parliament regarding the Chinese actions in Hong Kong. This shows that China had an ulterior motive in striking a trade deal with the European Union. Trump's China centric trade policies brought into focus the way China was flouting international trade rules globally. 

Washington think tanks had already identified China as America's biggest challenge in the coming years. Trump's 'America First' policy sent a clear signal to the Chinese leadership that their blatant expansionism will not go unchallenged. 

Political commentators generally agree that Trump was a disaster for the US. Trump never observed the subtle nuances in his dealings as a leader of a country is expected to. He went after his objectives with hammer and tongs. His praises and admonishments on twitter were embarrassing to say the least. A career politician would not have been so brazen in his dealings with friend and foe and probably not as effective either. 

The one area of US foreign policy where Trump made all the right moves was its dealings with  China. The Biden administration has signaled that it will follow many of those policies. 

A mention has to be made of the one more change we have seen during the Trump period. The Abraham Accords that has brought Israel into the Middle eastern mainstream. These accords will have a far reaching effects in the years to come. 

The way Trump dealt with China and the rest of the world may not have been in accordance with the established protocols of maintaining international relations, but it has provided a possible road map to handle some of the problems of the Free world.