Just barely a week before Christmas Eve, the longest-serving Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, wrote an article denouncing the trajectory of American Foreign Policy. Two months into the second Trump Presidency and one leaked group chat later, it seems that McConnell’s advice has fallen on deaf ears. American foreign policy under the second Trump administration is the worst of both worlds, extreme isolationism by the far right and lofty claims of the moral high ground without the actions to back it up from the far left.
On March 24, news broke that Senior White House officials, including the United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, accidentally discussed Yemen war plans in a group chat on the app Signal, without knowing they had added an editor for the Atlantic to the chat. Internationally relevant blunders like the leaked group chat places an increased emphasis on the current trajectory of American foreign policy, not just from a domestic lens but from that of our foreign allies.
Prior to the group chat leak, American credibility on the international stage was already declining. From the first day of the second Trump administration, the president endorsed isolationist policies: the strategy of withdrawing U.S influence from the international stage to prioritize domestic affairs. The progression of threats of tariffs extending beyond our adversaries and onto our closest neighbors in Mexico and Canada are alarming, as well as the tariffs we have placed on European goods. The main reason for the alarm is that beyond economic implications of higher prices for American consumers, these tariffs threaten to damage our international alliances as well.
The initial rationale behind the tariffs against Mexico and Canada were not solely steeped in economic values but also coupled with foreign policy gripes President Trump had throughout the years. Simply put, the president has utilized tariffs as an attempt to strongarm countries into adhering to U.S foreign policy goals like illegal immigration. While Trump enjoyed initial success with this method, seeing Mexico commit more personnel to the border and Canada quieted their rhetoric against the Trump administration, in the long run, the president has bit off more than he can chew. After threats of further tariffs, Mexico and Canada stopped complying to the increased demands of the United States and launched their own retaliatory tariffs, creating the beginnings of a trade war.
One of the first signs of damage to international relations is through the wallet.
When the United States continues to follow through with Trump’s policy of isolationism, pulling away from interaction like free trade with countries in the name of protecting the domestic economy while using our economic might to bend allies to our will, the only result will be a decline in our relationships with our allies.
Decline in foreign relations does not bode well for the United States in the current political climate. In Europe, threats of up to 200% tariffs on wine risks breaking down ties with allies that could help mediate the sluggish peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. In the East, tariffs on Chinese steel and technology risks worsening tensions to the point that collaboration to stop black market fentanyl production proves impossible. And at home, declining relations with Mexico will make it harder to cooperate together to prevent human and drug trafficking from reaching new heights. Simply put, isolationism will not protect the U.S economy. It will raise prices, raise tensions, and lower any chances the United States has of pursuing our foreign policy goals.
On the other side of the spectrum, Democrats have advocated for further U.S influence on the global stage, dissented on acts like cutting the organization USAID, and been an overall advocate against isolationism. Unfortunately, their words do not match their actions.
Despite their outcries, Democrats have not managed to put forward a coherent party platform when it comes to U.S Foreign Policy. For most Democrats, they are content on just criticizing Republican policies instead of making their own. For starters, they are unable to convince moderate Republicans to work together to prevent problematic figures from being appointed to the cabinet. Further, they have not been able to successfully communicate to voters the extent President Trump’s foreign policy would hurt the country on both an economic and influence level. And most guilty of all, they have simply failed to produce a plan of action two months into the new presidential term. Twiddling thumbs and throwing rocks into glass buildings won’t build the United States back up.
Mitch McConnell is set to retire in 2026, throughout his time in office he’s witnessed great division when it came to the Gulf War, U.S failed interventionism in Haiti, the War in the Middle East, the Great Recession, and the Covid-19 Pandemic, through each event the government united together to progress U.S interests. As McConnell’s article for the Council on Foreign Relations suggests, the United States needs to veer away from isolationism and create cohesive foreign policy that continues American status as a global leader on the world stage long after McConnell’s retirement.
