Fearful or cheerful? World leaders mull a potential Trump foreign policy

BERLIN — They promised a harder line against China.

They assailed President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

They attributed the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip to America’s weakness, pledged a crackdown on immigrants living in the country without legal permission, and vowed to end “free rides” for U.S. allies.

The lineup of speakers at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday sketched out a vision for U.S. foreign policy that leans harder into former President Donald Trump’s populist and isolationist instincts and further jettisons long-held Republican views.

The rest of the world was watching.

For months, officials around the globe have weighed the possibility of Trump’s return to the White House. In Buenos Aires, Argentina; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Budapest, Hungary, leaders could be expected to welcome it. In London; Seoul, South Korea; and Berlin, it would likely further test faith in America’s dependability. And in Mexico City; Kyiv, Ukraine; and Beijing, leaders appear to be steeling themselves for potential upheaval and further ruptures.

Already, with Trump consistently polling ahead of Biden, some governments are taking concrete steps to prepare for the former president’s possible return.

South Korea is racing to finalize a deal with Washington on sharing the costs of keeping U.S. troops in the country, anticipating Trump will demand that Seoul pay more. Mexico is studying how to protect millions of its citizens who might be deported from the United States.

In Ukraine, leaders are trying to remain as neutral as possible in the U.S. presidential campaign while also shoring up support from other Western allies.

Europe put on a show of solidarity at a summit of more than 40 European leaders Thursday, hosted by new U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a palace outside Oxford. There, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said that Russia had “failed to create division in Europe” and appealed for more air defenses and fewer restrictions on Western weapons.

Zelenskyy’s government is simultaneously trying to build bridges with Trump’s camp. “If Mr. Donald Trump becomes president, then we will work with him,” Zelenskyy said in Kyiv on Monday. “I am not afraid of it.”

Trump’s allies overseas are feeling more confident about their global influence. Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary and Trump’s staunchest ally in Europe, shuttled to Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing and Washington in recent weeks, fashioning himself as a self-appointed global diplomat on the war in Ukraine. He concluded his travels with an audience with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

And those from nations who have faced Trump’s attacks are already on the defensive.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico criticized the Republican convention speakers for blaming America’s problems on Latin American migrants. He noted Wednesday that American officials were ignoring the serious problem of drug use among young people.

“Let them look for an answer to that instead of only looking toward the south,” he said.

The speakers at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday emphasized America’s support for Israel but made little mention of Ukraine, an issue that has divided the party. That mixed approach mirrored the party platform released earlier this month, in which Republicans backed Israel by name but omitted the words “democracy” or “Ukraine.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, angered Trump by congratulating Biden after the presidential election in 2020 — a move that Trump considered disloyal and strained their relationship.

But the pair had strong ties during the first Trump presidency, and the possibility of Trump’s return was expected to benefit Netanyahu’s right-wing government, particularly if the war in the Gaza Strip were to extend into next year.

During his first term, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and was an architect of the landmark deals that forged formal diplomatic ties between Israel and three Arab states. If he wins, he is expected to press ahead with Biden’s efforts to forge a similar arrangement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Unpredictability

Across the spectrum, foreign analysts and officials have underscored the unpredictability that defined Trump’s first term. Some nations point out that Trump doesn’t always follow through on his public threats.

“He may say something publicly and act differently when he’s in power,” said Sergiy Solodkyy, the first deputy director of the New Europe Center, a think tank in Ukraine.

Trump, for example, muted his opposition to U.S. aid to Ukraine earlier this year, enabling some Republican members of Congress to vote in favor of the military package after months of stalling, Solodkyy said.

“Trump is a politician who can change his mind,” he added.

The unpredictability cuts both ways. In Moscow, Russian officials rejoiced when Trump won the presidency, only to find an administration packed with hawkish, anti-Russia Republicans, who pushed through new rounds of Russian sanctions, lethal aid to Ukraine and withdrawals from arms control pacts, at times over Trump’s protests.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia said earlier this year that he would prefer a victory for Biden, citing the president’s experience and predictable behavior. But some analysts who follow the Kremlin suggested an ulterior motive in Putin’s comments, with the Russian leader knowing that his endorsement would hurt any candidate among American voters.

Global leaders needed to look no further than Trump’s choice of a running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to see how foreign policy in Trump’s second term might shift.

Vance has positioned himself as the standard-bearer of a fully Trump-aligned foreign policy, in contrast to the more traditional GOP positions held by Trump’s earlier running mate, Mike Pence.

Vance led the charge against additional aid to Ukraine in the Senate early this year, and pro-Kremlin commentators in Moscow embraced his nomination this week as Trump’s running mate.

During a speech at the convention Wednesday, Vance warned U.S. military allies that there would be “no more free rides.” And he took aim at China, vowing to “stop the Chinese Communist Party from building their middle class on the backs of our hardworking citizens.”

Vance supports strong U.S. backing for Taiwan, but Trump himself has expressed skepticism about the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s effort to defend itself. He has also accused Taiwan of luring semiconductor production away from the United States.

Foreign policy experts in China expect a possible second Trump administration to look much like the first, with friction increasing between Beijing and Washington, particularly on economic issues. But the Biden administration has also taken a hawkish stance on China.

Personality- driven policy

Even as they assess Republican ideology, analysts in Asia have noted the significance of the former president’s outsize personality.

During Trump’s presidency, Shinzo Abe, then the prime minister of Japan, was particularly adept at developing a close personal relationship with the American leader. Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, figured out how to flatter Trump to sidestep direct confrontations over demands that Japan pay more for defense.

“There will almost be a playbook on how to deal with Trump and a lot to learn from Abe’s successes — that really, sycophancy works,” said James D.J. Brown, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

Across the globe, that approach is already underway.

In the United Arab Emirates, pro-government pundits and businesspeople have been open in their praise for Trump recently.

Saudi Arabia would also likely welcome Trump’s return. Two weeks ago, the Trump Organization signed a deal with a real estate company in Saudi Arabia to build a residential high-rise tower there, extending the family’s close ties with the kingdom.

Renewed tension in Latin America

Although Argentina’s right-wing president, Javier Milei, has told Trump personally that he wants him to win, elsewhere in Latin America, diplomatic turmoil is expected, with leftist governments in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia poised to disagree with Trump’s policies.

Mexico is preparing to offer alternatives to the kinds of harsh border measures Republicans have promised to introduce, including “Remain in Mexico,” a policy that requires migrants to wait in the country in tent encampments along the border while they apply for asylum in the United States.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has repeatedly criticized Trump publicly and supported Biden, expressing an affinity for the U.S. president after the two men found common ground on their shared experiences as the targets of far-right election deniers. Yet despite that friendship, Lula has criticized U.S. foreign policy, including on Ukraine, Israel and Venezuela.

Analysts believe that a Trump presidency would likely push Brazil away from the United States and closer to China, at least under Lula. They predict a similar dynamic in Colombia, one of Washington’s most important allies, which has a leftist president for the first time, known for being a prolific communicator on social media.

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