Biden will have his hands full

Time for a summer update on President Trump’s diplomatic initiatives, more or less in his priority order:

1. Trade with China: importing less than half of what is called for in the “first phase” agreement.
2. Re-initiating nuclear talks with Iran: Trump said more than a year ago he would talk with no pre-conditions. Tehran won’t, despite “maximum pressure.” Iran wants sanctions eased first.
3. Getting rid of North Korea’s nuclear weapons: Kim Jong-un has in effect said “no.”
4. Ending the war in Afghanistan: The withdrawal is proceeding, but progress in intra-Afghan talks is minimal.
5. Removal of Venezuelan President Maduro: He has weathered the challenge and remains firmly in power.
6. South China Sea: The US has rejected China’s sovereignty claim but is doing nothing about its military outposts.
7. Helping Ukraine force the Russians out of Donbas: The Administration has provided lethal weapons to no avail.
8. Reducing Saudi oil production to jack up world prices: Saudi production is down, but world prices are still in a trough.
9. Initiating a democratic transition in Syria: Congress has beefed up sanctions, but Trump can’t even begin to get Assad out.
10. “Deal of the century”: Not going anywhere but into the shredder. Even Israeli annexation of part of the West Bank is blocked.

This skips a lot. For example:

• the President telling Chinese President Xi that it was fine to put (Muslim) Uighurs into concentration camps,
• withdrawing from the Paris Climate accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and several favorable arms control agreements with Russia,
• moving US troops out of Germany to the delight of Moscow,
• failing to counter Russian bounties for Taliban who kill US soldiers in Afghanistan,
• saying the right things about Hong Kong and withdrawing its trade preferences, but with not discernible impact,
• not responding to foreign initiatives to undermine the US elections, and
• withdrawing from the World Health Organization in the midst of a pandemic.

American foreign policy has rarely been so ineffectual, never mind whether the priorities are right. The Administration doesn’t think past its own next move. The President is incapable of it and won’t let others do it for him. He behaves as if the adversary has no options. Much of what the Administration does is for show, without considering however how most of the rest of the world sees the situation. The only customers for this foreign policy are the domestic audience of China hawks, Russia doves, oil and coal producers, and evangelical Christians, along with President Putin, Prime Minister Netanyahu and a few other would-be autocrats around the world.

Getting out of the foreign policy hole Trump has dug will be a big challenge. President Biden, if there ever is one, will have his hands full even if he pays attention only to the first three of the items above. Let’s hope he can somehow save us from the consequences of four dreadful years.