Trump has stood up for American interests abroad

The argument

Supporters of this view hold that the measure of a president abroad is whether he advances his own country's interests, not whether he is well received while doing it. On that measure, the United States of America under Donald Trump's leadership has been more assertive on the world stage, guided by a distinctive 'America First' policy that treated existing arrangements as open to renegotiation wherever they were judged not to serve American interests. Trade is the clearest instance. Trump has been more willing than other US Presidents to threaten and enact tariffs on America's trade competitors, including China and the European Union. On this account the willingness is itself the achievement: earlier administrations are held to have preferred the stability of existing terms to the friction of contesting them, which left those terms unchallenged for decades. A president prepared to impose costs has leverage that a president committed to avoiding confrontation does not, whether or not any particular tariff is ultimately levied. The same reasoning is applied to multilateral institutions. Trump has been willing to call out the unequal amount of money the USA contributes to multinational institutions compared to its allies, including America's disproportionate funding contribution to the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Proponents argue that the disparity was long recognised and rarely raised, because raising it was diplomatically awkward — and that declining to raise it left American taxpayers carrying commitments other members had also undertaken. Under his presidency he has put pressure on allies to pay their fair share and live up to their treaty obligations. Supporters read this as insisting on reciprocity rather than abandoning alliances, since the obligations at issue were ones the allies had themselves accepted. On that basis they judge that Trump stood up for American interests abroad.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Under Trump's presidency the United States of America has increasingly become hostile to some of its key allies, including threatening to put tariffs on the European Union and attacking Germany and other NATO allies for not contributing a higher percentage of their Gross Domestic Product to defence spending. Trump has courted and openly stated his admiration for dictators and strongmen, like North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This has left many key allies, such as Germany, feeling alienated with their respective populations concluding that the USA under Trump is dangerous and a threat to world peace.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] The 'America First' policy has only served to alienate other countries.