A second Trump term will see no change in foreign policy

As he accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for the November presidential elections, President Donald Trump on Thursday night delivered a 70-minute speech that focused, as expected, on his domestic agenda while attacking his rival, Joe Biden.

Americans, whose life has — like the rest of the world — changed perhaps forever because of the coronavirus pandemic, may have heard more than what they had expected from a president who touted countless ‘achievements’ domestically: from the economy, to the pandemic to law and order.

According to pollsters and election analysts, the 2020 election will be fought on a mainly economic agenda, because of the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on traditional jobs.

More than 22 million Americans lost their jobs since March. Nine millions of those jobs have been recovered, Trump said in his speech, crediting his administration of helping the economy grow faster than expected- although it may take few more years for the American as well as the global economy to fully recover from the COVID-19 fallout.

“Joe Biden is not a saviour of America’s soul. He is the destroyer of America’s jobs,” Trump said summing up the difference between him and his Democrat rival on almost every domestic issue.

But for those of us who were waiting specific announcements on foreign policy, it was a bit of a disappointment.

We thus have to go again through the convention speech delivered by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a night earlier, in which he reiterated the foreign policy milestones of the Trump presidency: relocating the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem, exit from the failed Iran nuclear deal and the continuing pressure on China and Russia.

Nevertheless, listening to the long speech by the President, one gets the hint that in case he gets another term, it is almost certain that we will see the same foreign policy lines.

This could very well prove unfortunate when it comes to the diminishing leadership role of the US globally — in issues such as climate change, international trade, and multilateralism, and reassuring at the same time when to comes to his definitive commitment to Middle East peace and security to curtail the destabilising actions by such countries as Iran and Turkey.

Perhaps we will get more clarity on foreign policy outlines of the next administration at the presidential debates during the next eight weeks.

So far, we have to assume that a Trump White House will stay the course of the past four years. And that actually is not a bad thing.