Toward a Foreign Policy Compromise in the Next Trump Administration

Americans across the aisle need to put aside our differences and draft a common blueprint for foreign policy and grand strategy for the next four years. 

Democrats can find compromises with Republicans to forge a new consensus that speaks directly to Trump voters’ concerns about economic policy and migration. And Republicans can find ways to speak to Harris voters’ concerns about maintaining the international partnerships America needs to address ongoing conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and deter a larger conflict in the Asia-Pacific. This compromise starts with putting the trepidations of voters who swept Trump into the White House front and center and assessing them in relation to the larger trends shaping the global security environment in 2024.

First, the security environment in 2024 is not the same as 2016 or 2020. Major wars now engulf Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Global and regional order are breaking down, creating a risk of runaway conflict. Furthermore, wars are exacerbating migration and inflation concerns that were on the mind of the American public as they went to the polls. In other words, the next administration can focus on economic policy and migration—as the Trump campaign promised, and in a more deliberate, humane manner than campaign rhetoric suggested—but it cannot do so without dealing with the reality of addressing ongoing conflicts.

This produces the first area for compromise. President Trump can play the role of shrewd negotiator—using personal, high-level engagements—to address ongoing conflicts. Yet, it must start with an agreement that the United States will not abandon Ukraine (or NATO) and will work with a wide range of partners to address other regional conflicts, as he did in the Abraham Accords.

Second, if foreign policy reflects the will of the voters guided by elected officials, then the Trump administration will need a strategy that puts economic interests on the same level as security interests. America likely cannot go back to the ideal expressed in George Washington’s Fairwell Address of free trade and neutrality, much less Taft’s tariffs, but it can shape a new era of global economic relations that lifts up those voters—across the world—that feel left behind by globalization and automation. Making America great again starts with listening to communities that have seen declines in public health—largely linked to the ongoing drug crisis—alongside aspects of economic well-being that are linked to stable employment. Too many Americans are surviving on credit card debt and gig-economy side hustles, creating a significant disconnect compared to record corporate profits and stock market returns. You can’t put families first if no one is home to eat meals together. It also means that the president can revisit the bipartisan Senate effort to secure the border and avoid the more drastic proposals for mass deportations almost certain to trigger an economic shock.

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