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to diplomats
of a conventional cast the arrival of
donald trump on the world
scene was an outrage charming to
autocrats
and occasionally abusive to allies trump
has plowed his own
furrow so much so that even
traditionally-minded republicans wonder
what damage might result if the american
people
choose to re-elect him one time around
i think people can understand this is a
populist nationalist moment not just
in the united states but in other
countries um but if
the greatest country on earth does this
twice then i think it's
uh it really does affect how people view
us but the other thing is
there are consequences for how the
united states behaves in the world
and i think in the second trump term you
would see even more
of the uh unilateral kind of behavior
the disdain for allies uh
the desire to cut deals with really
problematic regimes
that you've seen before president trump
doesn't like alliances he prefers
dealing with other nations one to one
how damaging has that been to
multilateral cooperation
well last year there was a cabinet
meeting here in which i've heard the
foreign secretary at the time
said that nato would be unlikely to
survive
a second trump term
but of course the trump years have
included foreign policy and security
successes
from the overwhelming of isis
temporarily at least
to the normalization of relations
between israel and some
gulf arab states and there's been a
rearguard action against more assertive
rivals
even if it's had to come from other
members of the trump administration
the immensely important shift in u.s
policy in confronting the aggression of
the chinese communist party
i think that's going to be a
multi-generational policy that has very
very strong
bipartisan support i mentioned on russia
the trump administration in its
actions confronted russia significantly
not just with sanctions
uh but also with providing defensive
capabilities to ukraine for
for example uh and many other measures
that were that were put in place of
course as you mentioned and
as we discussed you the the president's
public statements were unhelpful
so that presidential voice so often
strident
inconsistent or mocking has not played
out in quite the same way
internationally as at home and in
confronting
big issues such as trade with china
those who've been present in
negotiations argue
america's aims under trump have not been
radically different
what we have seen is that what they want
to actually achieve in this negotiation
whether with china or japan or the
european union
the the core national objective have
more or less remained the same
and the objection that united states
have with the world trade organization
are basically constant so
the complaints are more or less
unchanged the only thing that really
changes actually
just table manners i mean i highly
appreciate civility
manners and the ability to build
allies but the question is what do you
need them for
you know what kim jong-un in north korea
said when i talked like i just did about
him
he said joe biden is a rabid dog and
she'd be beaten to death with a stick
that's the highest compliment i've got
in a long time from a thug
now the campaign is in its final phase
democrats and
anti-trump republicans alike remind the
public of his reluctance to confront
dictators
and evangelize for western values
but with the possibility of a joe biden
presidency
strengthening they also acknowledge that
the u.s election won't change
governments overseas
and a simple return to a pre-trump
foreign policy
is impossible the world is more
dangerous
more divided strong men are on the rise
our
alliances are afraid and it makes the
world much more dangerous place and
rebuilding it is going to be difficult
we've advocated the world stage for four
years others have stepped up into it
the europeans have stepped up to germany
has stepped up to it
but you've also got china building it's
a massive belt and road initiative
you've got president putin increasingly
influential around the world and
america's leadership is is needed and
only america can fill that role
i will join the paris accord because
with us out of it look what's happening
it's all falling apart the biden
campaign insists
that their man would move swiftly to
revitalize alliances and restore
international confidence in u.s
leadership
for example rejoining the paris climate
change accord
and trying to revive the iran nuclear
deal
but the fundamentals in seeking to avoid
new foreign wars
or contesting trade policy with china
will not
change even if the language does
the point that i would make is don't
underestimate the importance of tone
you know the fact that you have the
united states which behaves like a
normal
ally uh which does not seem to be in the
grip of
somebody who themselves has kind of lost
their grip
um is going to be a very big deal and
they'll be profoundly reassuring because
the
you know the biden team is basically the
old
uh obama team uh some except the people
around hillary clinton plus they'll
probably bring in a few
of the never trump uh republicans and i
expect what they'll do is you'll have a
whole bunch of those
those folks together with people who are
clearly
surrogates going to
capitals all over the world uh
you know from canberra tokyo london
um brasilia you name it and
saying look uh the old united states is
back
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as for the uk the current crews of the
queen elizabeth carrier
jointly operating american and british
jets
underlines long-standing defense and
intelligence cooperation
but joe biden's shot across the bows
about respecting the anglo-irish
agreement in brexit has shown that boris
johnson
would be unwise to take a u.s trade deal
for granted
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so how will the outcome affect the
message coming from the u.s
embassy in london well whether it's a
trump
or biden presidency the negotiations for
a free trade deal with the us
are likely to be tough but of course
president trump
had sympathy with brexit in a way that
joe biden doesn't
indeed the challenger has shown that he
highly values
european unity and the sanctity of the
good friday agreement in ireland
i think there's a callous disregard for
the good friday agreement
in the uk's decision to to exit
the european union the way they have
handled brexit the chaos that surrounded
it and frankly disregarding the
commitments of the good friday agreement
um they i was very involved in the irish
peace process under president clinton
and it matters what
is upheld in the good friday agreement
and
the the the fact that they would
go through this process over years and
not have an answer to what is happening
to the border between
north and south is just frankly
irresponsible it needs to be solved
there cannot be a violation of the good
friday agreement
that then underlines that while there
may be more civility
a hard-headed assessment of u.s
interests will define the next
administration's foreign policy
but along with it there's an
understanding in the wider world
that america's ability to define events
is slowly diminishing