Tag

#foreign-policy

6 incidents

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

2025 Tariff Shock: Sweeping Import Taxes Trigger Global Trade Crisis

The tariff regime was described by the administration as reciprocal response to trade imbalances, but the methodology for calculating tariff rates — dividing trade deficits by import values — was not a recognized economic method and did not reflect actual foreign tariff levels. Economists across the political spectrum warned of consumer price increases, supply chain disruptions, and reduced trade volumes. The tariffs on Chinese goods — reaching 145% cumulatively — effectively ended routine trade in many product categories. Markets fell sharply in the two trading days following the announcement. A 90-day pause was announced for most countries (excluding China) after Treasury Secretary Bessent and other officials lobbied Trump.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Annexation Threats: Greenland, Panama Canal, Canada — Territorial Expansionism

Trump's January 7, 2025 press conference at Mar-a-Lago was the clearest statement of the annexation posture: asked whether he would rule out military force to take Greenland, he said 'no.' Asked about economic coercion of Canada, he said tariffs were possible. His son Donald Trump Jr. visited Greenland on what was described as a personal trip days before the press conference, raising diplomatic concerns. Denmark's prime minister stated that Greenland was not for sale. Greenland's prime minister stated Greenland's future was for Greenlanders to decide. Panama's president said the canal was and would remain Panamanian. Canada's prime minister described the threats as unacceptable.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

NATO Article 5 Threats: Encouraging Russia to Attack Allies Who Don't Pay

NATO's collective defense commitment under Article 5 — that an attack against one member is an attack against all — was the foundational guarantee that had maintained European security for 75 years. Trump's statement that he would encourage Russia to attack members he deemed to be underpaying undermined the credibility of the deterrence that Article 5 provided. NATO allies condemned the statements as dangerous; European leaders described them as a fundamental threat to the alliance's deterrence value. In his second term, Trump continued pressing NATO members with threats of U.S. withdrawal contingent on spending levels, while simultaneously pursuing a Ukraine peace framework that European allies described as favorable to Russia.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

Open Skies Treaty Withdrawal: Unilateral Exit from 35-Nation Arms Control Agreement

The Open Skies Treaty allows its 35 signatories — including the United States, Russia, and most NATO and former Warsaw Pact nations — to conduct scheduled unarmed reconnaissance flights over each other's territory. The flights collect imagery that member states share, building collective military transparency. Trump administration officials argued Russia had violated the treaty by restricting U.S. flight paths over certain territories. European allies agreed Russia had compliance issues but argued the U.S. should address them within the treaty framework rather than withdraw, and warned that U.S. withdrawal would give Russia an excuse to exit entirely. Russia did subsequently withdraw from the treaty in January 2021, after Trump's withdrawal had set the precedent. The Biden administration reviewed but did not rejoin the treaty due to concerns about congressional opposition.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

Helsinki Summit: Trump Sided With Putin Over His Own CIA on Election Interference

Trump and Putin met privately for approximately two hours with only translators present; there was no U.S. notetaker. (In 2019, The Washington Post reported that Trump had gone to unusual lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Putin, in one instance taking possession of his interpreter's notes.) At the public press conference, Trump said he didn't 'see any reason why it would be Russia' that interfered in the election — contradicting the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community. When asked the next day, Trump claimed he had misspoken and meant to say 'wouldn't' instead of 'would.' The statement provoked condemnation from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Speaker Paul Ryan, and dozens of Republican members of Congress.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: Trade War With Allies, WTO Violations, Economic Disruption

The Section 232 tariffs were challenged immediately as legally dubious — U.S. national security law did not contemplate allies as threats, and Canada, Germany, South Korea, and Japan supply steel and aluminum to U.S. defense contractors. The EU, Canada, and Mexico all retaliated with targeted tariffs on politically sensitive U.S. products (Bourbon, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, orange juice, soybeans). The broader China trade war — separate from the steel tariffs — involved escalating rounds of tariffs reaching 25% on $250 billion in Chinese goods; China retaliated against agricultural products; the U.S. government paid $28 billion in direct payments to American farmers to compensate for lost Chinese export markets.