President Donald Trump listens in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
| Photo Credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson
(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)
Donald Trump did not waste any time. As soon as he took office as the 47th President of the U.S., the Republican issued a flurry of executive orders remaking America’s policy. He announced the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, which could be a blow to the global efforts to fight climate change. In 2016, when Mr. Trump won the election and had moved to withdraw the U.S. from the pact, the exit did not formally take place, thanks to the way the Paris Agreement rules were framed. However, this time, the U.S. can exit within a year of formally conveying this to the UN. The President has also swung America’s energy policy largely in favour of fossil fuels. He asked the Energy Department to resume allowing reviews of gas export facilities and instructed federal agencies to stop issuing leases and permits for all new wind projects pending a new environmental review.
Mr. Trump has ordered that the U.S. government would, from now on, recognise only two “immutable” genders — male and female. He also issued executive orders ending government diversity programmes, breaking with what he and his supporters call “woke culture”, and ended birthright citizenship (which has been temporarily stayed by a court). He took the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, and pardoned some 1,500 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020, claiming that the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won, was stolen from Mr. Trump. The U.S. government is now referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. And the administration has begun a mass deportation programme aimed at deporting undocumented foreigners who are now called “aliens” in government releases. Mr. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on several countries, including Mexico and Canada (which is likely to take effect on February 15). He plans to put tariffs on China as well, but signalled in an interview last week that he would hold the decision on China for now.
Mr. Trump is yet to make any major move in foreign policy. During the campaign, he had promised to bring the Ukraine war to an end. His ‘envoy for the Middle East’, Steve Witkoff, had played a constructive role in the finalisation of the three-phase Gaza ceasefire. But Mr. Trump’s statement as President that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinian refugees from Gaza “to just clean out” the strip has triggered angry responses from the region. Throughout the 15 months of war in Gaza, in which over 46,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 wounded by Israeli attacks, Egypt had refused to take Palestinian refugees. Palestinians in Gaza themselves have said many times that they were not leaving the enclave, citing the past experience of Palestinians who fled to other countries as refugees during conflicts and were never allowed to return. With regard to Ukraine, Mr. Trump has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war through negotiations or face more sanctions and tariffs. The Kremlin has said that Mr. Putin was ready to meet Mr. Trump but was yet to get any signal from Washington on peace talks.
But one development that exposed Mr. Trump’s handling of foreign policy was his fall-out with Colombia. When Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to give permission to two American military planes carrying Colombian immigrants to land in his country, a furious Mr. Trump immediately threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods. He also threatened the South American country with sanctions on its banking and financial sector and vowed to impose visa restrictions on Colombian government officials and associates. Mr. Petro initially responded in kind threatening to impose counter-tariffs on American goods but eventually folded. This gave an opportunity for Mr. Trump to claim that “America is respected again”. But Mr. Trump’s coercive ‘America First’ foreign policy, with little regard for America’s alliance systems and global competitions, has already irked and alarmed U.S. allies, from the Pacific to Europe and South America. Such concerns are expected to mount in the coming months with Mr. Trump pressing with his plan to take over Greenland, which is owned by Denmark, one of the founding members of NATO.
The Top Five
1. Is France’s influence in West Africa over?
Why did Chad, Ivory Coast, and Senegal ask for the withdrawal of French troops? What does the withdrawal signify for Europe’s waning influence in Africa? How has Russia benefited from this? write Padmashree Anandhan and Anu Maria Joseph.
2. An enduring commitment to the Indo-Pacific
Under the new Trump administration, the Indo-Pacific is likely to regain prominence but with a sharper focus on hard power dynamics, write Harsh V. Pant and Pratnashree Basu.
3. Following backlash, ‘Jaffna’ restored in India-built Cultural Centre’s name in Sri Lanka
On January 18, the Indian High Commission announced the renaming of the Cultural Centre in Jaffna as ‘Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre’; the omission of ‘Jaffna’ sparked strong criticism from locals, reports Meera Srinivasan.
4. India should be an ‘essential and important’ part of Gaza reconstruction: Palestinian envoy
As hopes grow that the ceasefire will hold, the Palestinian government considers Gaza reconstruction plans; invites Indian government and private sector to participate in the rebuilding of the enclave, reports Suhasini Haidar.
5. Marco Rubio: Secretary of faith
The Republican who once challenged Donald Trump in primaries and called him a ‘con artist’ is now the President’s diplomat-in-chief, writes Varghese K. George.
Published – January 28, 2025 05:08 pm IST
