Trump put America first
Trump has renegotiated trade deals with other countries. He has also cut funding for international organisations to prioritise the US.
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The Argument
Trump has worked to renegotiate trade deals. He has held a harder stance with America’s trading partners accusing many, such as China and Mexico, of unfairly profiting from the US. He has also accused other nations of taking advantage of the US. He has called for other members of international organisations, such as NATO, to meet their commitments to the organisations and not rely on the US.
In 2017, Trump exited the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to pursue American interests and protect American jobs. Trump renegotiated the NAFTA agreement, now United States-Mexico-Canada agreement. This was in order to fulfil his campaign promise of better deals for American workers and companies[1].
Trump has also taken a harder line on trade with China. This has meant imposing sanctions on Chinese imports and calling for a ban on Huawei products and their 5G technology. Trump has vowed to “end our reliance on China”[2].
All these measures have been Trump’s work towards fulfilling his promise to put America first.
Counter arguments
Putting America first is not as black and white as Trump makes it appear. By aggravating allies and leaving international organisations, Trump is alienating the US and making it harder to build mutually beneficial trade and defence relationships with other nations. This cuts off America from the rest of the world and eaves them and their allies more vulnerable. Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, said that under Trump, “the United States has completely abandoned the notion of allies being important and abandoned the notion of international cooperation as being important"[2].
Proponents
Premises
Rejecting the premises
Further Reading
https://theconversation.com/trumps-foreign-policy-is-still-america-first-what-does-that-mean-exactly-144841
https://www.ft.com/content/acc48fc6-169a-11ea-b869-0971bffac109