President Trump has now served nearly one full year in office.
Inside the United States, it’s been a consequential, seemingly nonstop-breaking-news year.
White House advisors have come and gone, the FBI director was fired, and the push to repeal
parts of the Affordable Care Act continues.
Trump’s approach to foreign affairs has also made quite a few headlines.
So we wanted to take a look back at some of his most controversial foreign policies.
Hey guys, I'm Versha.
I know many of you have very strong opinions about what Trump’s presidency means for
the U.S. and even the world.
So let’s discuss some of what he’s done so far.
Trump’s approach to immigration dominated his campaign,
“Don’t worry about it.
We’re going to build a wall.
Don’t even think about it.” and it’s also dominated the news cycle in
his first year in office.
He put a travel ban on refugees from 7 Muslim-majority countries in January 2017 – Opponents of
the ban say that it’s anti-muslim prejudice but Trump says the ban “is not about religion
-- this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”
The ban against citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen went
into effect immediately.
But it was then halted after being challenged in court.
After continued back and forth between Trump’s administration and the courts, finally a third
version of the ban was allowed to proceed by the U.S. Supreme Court in December pending
two federal appeals.
The updated list bans most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North
Korea, and some citizens of Venezuela.
About two weeks after the decision the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that
Trump had once again exceeded his authority with the ban because it was in violation of
the Immigration and Nationality Act.
It basically means the court found that Trump did not demonstrate that these banned individuals
would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
But they put their decision on hold pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
This means that, for now, the third iteration of Trump’s Travel ban will remain in effect.
World leaders from Iran have called the ban “insulting.”
“It’s misguided and it is regrettable that the Supreme Court decided to overrule
the decisions of the previous courts.
Or at least consider overruling them.
The citizens of the countries on the list have never participated in any act of terrorism
against the United States and yet they are punished.”
Even U.S. allies like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany have condemned this move.
But Australia, which has taken its own hardline stance on immigration, is one of the few countries
who have openly supported it.
The Trump administration has also made waves in US immigration policy by recently announcing
that they will revoke the Temporary Protected Status granted to people from Nicaragua, Haiti,
and El Salvador affecting approximately 2,500 Nicaraguans, 59,000 Haitians, and 200,000
Salvadorans.
Some immigrants from these countries were allowed to stay in the U.S. due to a program
called Temporary Protected Status, which was signed into law in 1990 by Republican President
George Bush.
This program allowed foreigners fleeing deplorable conditions, like wars and natural disasters,
to stay in the U.S.
Though Trump is seemingly fulfilling his campaign promise to reduce both legal and illegal immigration
there is pushback from Democrats and Republicans asking for him to reconsider ending these
humanitarian programs.
These kinds of policies, and the global reaction to them, has led America to be increasingly
isolated from other countries.
Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords is the most well
known example of this.
The Paris Climate Accords is a joint agreement among almost all the countries in the world,
to meet certain goals to combat climate change – The agreement was reached in 2015 under
the Obama administration.
After Trump made his announcement, Nicaragua signed the accord and Syria announced its
intention to join also.
That makes the United States the only country in the world that refuses to honor it.
Another example is Trump’s stance on Pakistan.
In his first tweet of 2018, Trump said: That tweet set of a firestorm, with Pakistan’s
top government officials calling it “completely incomprehensible” and saying it “struck
with great insensitivity” at the trust between the two nations.
Now, it’s true that Pakistan has a real terrorism problem that sprawls across and
affects many countries, but it’s still up for debate whether cutting aid to the country
is the right move to fight it.
What’s also interesting is that other countries watching these exchanges between the U.S.
and other countries are stepping in where Trump is stepping out: in the case of Pakistan
and this tweet, it’s China.
China re-expressed their support for Pakistan after this incident, saying “the responsibility
of combating terror outfits cannot be placed on a particular country.”
This is something we’ve heard echoed from other foreign policy observers and experts
over the past year: Where U.S. leadership is creating a vacuum
in global affairs, China and Russia are stepping in to fill the void.
Chinese analysts have said American allies in Asia are unnerved by Trump’s threats
against North Korea and China has seen this as “a chance to capitalize on the fear and
confusion and emerge as the sober-minded power in the region.”
When the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Russia stepped in and offered them
money.
Some of this is geopolitics as usual: of course countries who seek to gain more power will
take advantage of certain situations.
But Trump’s foreign policy strategy is what dictates just how much influence the U.S.
has around the world.
It’s worth mentioning that he has not started any new wars as President, though he has certainly
stepped up the rhetoric with countries like North Korea and Iran.
The US is still dropping bombs on the Middle East.
Trade partnerships in Asia are being formed without the involvement of the U.S.
And allies in the European Union are wondering just what direction they should take.
As his foreign policy continues to take shape in his second year as president, we’ll continue
to monitor the effects of Trump’s ‘America First’ policies.
Donald Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin is one of the most talked about items
in world affairs.
And Putin is certainly one of the world leaders to watch in 2018.
Check out these videos to the right that detail what’s coming up in Russia this year, and
who else you should be paying attention to.
Thanks for watching NowThis World, and don’t forget to like and subscribe.