Trump's New Isolationism for 4 Years... The US Losing Global Leadership

Repeated Breaches of International Treaties... Lack of Proper Alternatives
Reckless Mad Diplomatic Strategies... Undermining the US Alliance System

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] During his four years in office, President Trump pursued a foreign policy of withdrawing from various international frameworks. The result has been the loss of America's global leadership due to the 'new isolationism' policy. Additionally, the indiscriminate 'Madman Strategy' that disregarded friend or foe has caused significant damage to the alliance system. Among diplomatic and security experts, there is a consensus that to restore the various treaties terminated over the past four years and to regain the trust of countries in the United States, President Trump's re-election must be prevented.

America's influence in the international community is noticeably diminishing. According to the Washington Post (WP) on the 23rd (local time), 13 out of the 15 UN Security Council member states opposed the U.S. notification to restore sanctions on Iran. Earlier, on the 14th, the U.S. notification to the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran was also rejected by 13 Security Council members, excluding the U.S. and the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. political media Foreign Policy criticized, "This symbolically shows how much the U.S. has lost influence within the UN Security Council," adding, "It is the harmful consequence of President Trump's new isolationism policy and the Madman Strategy, which was carried out without hesitation even toward allies." Since taking office, President Trump has been criticized for dismantling various major and minor existing international treaties such as the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), and the Paris Climate Agreement, while emphasizing economic logic, highlighting issues like the reduction of U.S. troops in Germany and defense cost negotiations with South Korea, thereby significantly weakening relationships with allies.

Criticism has also been raised about the lack of principles in diplomacy. According to CNN, Jim Sciutto, a CNN security expert who recently published a book titled Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World, said in an interview with CNN the day before, "President Trump has made very impulsive decisions on major diplomatic matters, and his aides had to be cautious about what diplomatic options to present to him," adding, "He was someone who could actually give orders that were absurd and aggressive enough to sound like jokes."

The Madman Theory refers to a strategy during President Richard Nixon's administration in 1969, where Nixon deliberately spread rumors that he was a dangerous figure willing to risk nuclear war in East Asia to pressure North Vietnam into favorable peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War. Sciutto criticized, "Even the Nixon administration's Madman Strategy ultimately led to defeat in the Vietnam War," and "Not even the Nixon administration used the Madman Strategy against its allies."

The peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), touted as the greatest diplomatic achievement of the Trump administration, has been faltering since its announcement. On this day, Israeli local media including Haaretz reported in unison that Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE purchased spyware software from the Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group to hack Israeli government agencies. Following a report by the New York Times (NYT) on the 19th that the U.S. plans to sell advanced stealth fighter jets, the F-35, to the UAE, voices opposing the peace deal have been rising within Israel. The Israeli government also announced that despite U.S. opposition, it will continue with plans to annex the West Bank. Critics argue that the hastily arranged peace deal is instead fueling regional instability.