Riding high on successive victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the prospective Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, appears to have solidified his position.
His lead over Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden in most polls should serve as a significant indicator for the rest of the world to brace for a foreign policy that may diverge substantially in approach and style from what it is accustomed to. If Trump secures the presidency, his ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) slogan would now apply to a global landscape vastly transformed since his departure from office four years ago.
Offering a glimpse into what shaped his foreign policy in his first term, Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during his presidency, and although he issued threats to United States (US) allies, he refrained from either curtailing funds or withdrawing from NATO altogether. In a potential second term, he is likely to reinforce some of these missed opportunities, congruent to his own politics and campaign promises. He may now find stronger justification for curtailing NATO funds, considering the US contributed close to 69 percent of NATO's funding in 2020, and for withdrawing from global financial commitments, particularly combat and peacekeeping engagements which drain US resources. Donald Trump's argument will likely focus on portraying the US's disproportionate assistance to NATO as unfair, thus advocating for the need to achieve trans-Atlantic parity in financial support to NATO. Amongst a few other steps that shaped Trump’s foreign and security policies, the Trump administration had previously ordered a hasty troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and imposed a travel ban targeting specific countries.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.