Trump wins praise for new pragmatic foreign policy

Washington – Donald Trump entered the White House on an isolationist platform that threatened to upend America’s role in the world.

But in the past fortnight he has signalled a stunning number of policy shifts that have been praised as pragmatic and sensible by the mainstream, but condemned by supporters who wanted him to keep his “America First” promise.

He has fostered a friendship with China, voiced growing enthusiasm for Nato and launched an attack on Syria.

At the weekend came another sign that his high stakes approach to North Korea – sending a US aircraft carrier group into strike range – was bearing fruit.

Far from going it alone, senior officials said they are working with China to increase economic pressure on the hermit state.

White House watchers said the approach reflects an Oval Office power shift, with moderate, globalist voices on the rise.

Their influence is obvious in the president’s thinking on China and North Korea.

During the campaign Trump railed against Beijing for manipulating its currency to depress the price of its exports.

But after meeting with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, Trump has shied away from using the currency manipulator label.

He has also reined in criticism of China for not bringing North Korea to heel.

The result appears to be a more pragmatic approach that prioritises stopping North Korea’s nuclear programme over cutting America’s trade deficit with China.

He made another turnaround on Nato last week.

“I said it was obsolete,” he said. “It’s no longer obsolete.”

Observers see the hand of Lieutenant General HR McMaster, who was appointed National Security Adviser after Mike McFlynn resigned over his links to Russian officials.

The ascendant group also includes Gary Cohn, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, who is a lifelong Democrat and has the nickname “globalist Gary”.

Meanwhile, Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, has been moved off the National Security Council and undermined by the president publicly declaring: “I am my own strategist.”

Richard Haas, president of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, said the policy changes were “seismic”, adding: “These are shifts going in the right direction.”

Some Trump supporters are unconvinced, however, seeing what they believe is a president abandoning the pledges that brought him to power. –