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US expert interprets Trump's foreign policy on North America and beyond

US President Donald Trump speaks briefly with reporters after returning to the White House following the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral on January 21, 2025, in Washington, DC. (CFP Photo)

Again, Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office. The 78-year-old man, having escaped a bullet by the skin of his teeth, delivered a speech full of plain language and demagogic statements but with more specific actions outlined in his executive orders.  

Perhaps not a large portion of people worldwide took the speech seriously on Jan. 20, 2017. However, what's past is prologue, as the speech soon triggered global attention eight years later.

In the second episode of the exclusive interview with GDToday, David Blair, vice president at the Center for China and Globalization and former professor of economics at the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, mainly shared his thoughts on US foreign policies under the Trump administration.

According to Blair, Trump, in his second term, would pay more attention to the North American continent, given his public announcements and executive orders. He would also seek to adopt a much less militarily interventionist policy in foreign affairs.  

Asylum seekers wait for news on the CBP One appointments at El Chaparral crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on January 21, 2025. (CFP Photo)

Donald Trump may pay more attention to North America  

As Blair observes, a significant change in US foreign policy is currently a North American strategy, which entails that Trump is attempting to "reduce the attention to the rest of the world and increase the US emphasis on North America."

Announcements and moves such as buying Greenland, re-establishing control of the Panama Canal, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and declaring the Mexican drug cartels to be terrorist organizations—all indicate his concerns for North America.

As for the Mexican drug cartels, Blair noted that they're killing a lot of people in the United States.

"The difference between a terrorist organization and a criminal organization is that the US military can be used to attack terrorist organizations wherever they are in the world," he added.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Tuesday that Trump’s executive order on drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations would only impact Mexico if there is close coordination between the two governments.

“We all want to fight the drug cartels,” Sheinbaum noted at her daily press briefing. “The U.S. in their territory, us in our territory.”

Given the Mexican government's protest, Blair noted that the move can do good, too. Mexicans, too. "Drug cartels have killed lots of Mexican politicians, and any Mexican military officer or policeman who tries to go against them seizes their families, is killed."

"It's extraterritoriality," he confessed, "but that's the only way I can interpret those policies."

Blair concluded that Trump's main focus will be on consolidating control over North America, the Caribbean, which is basically part of North America, and probably much less concerned about East Asia.

A Palestinian man inspects the damage at his shop on January 21, 2025. (CFP Photo) 

Trump will take a much less militarily interventionist foreign policy

When asked whether Trump would lead the US into isolationism, Blair answered no and underscored that the new president tries to get the country out of wars and conflicts worldwide, and he needs other countries, such as China, to collaborate.

Retrospecting US foreign policies of the Second World War, the debacle and wasted lives of the Vietnam War, as well as misadventures in the Middle East, Blair noted that US foreign policies have basically been one failure after another since the 1960s.

"The American people are tired of interventions, the conflict in Ukraine, the current war between Israel and Palestine," he added.

Setting the current conflict in Ukraine as an example, Blair pointed out that for a period, there was a real danger that it could lead to nuclear war. Trump has been sober that he's not going to continue with that policy. It could have turned into a nuclear war for no good reason.

"This means a much less militarily interventionist policy than we've seen before. Trump will be very hesitant to get involved in a war anywhere, and he wants to end the war in Israel and the conflict in Ukraine now."

Clues can be found via foreign leaders Trump invited to his inauguration; a few other foreign leaders were there, especially the Vice President of China.

"It's very clear that President Trump invited only people whom he respects and wants to work with closely going forward. He has strong intentions of trying to work closely with China and work out some good relations going forward," noted Blair.

Reporter: Zhang Ruijun

Editor: Yuan Zixiang, James, Shen He

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