WATCH VIDEO
- APRIL 27, 2016 -
DONALD J. TRUMP FOREIGN
POLICY SPEECH
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to
you, and thank you to the Center for the National Interest for honoring me with
this invitation.
I would like to talk today about how to
develop a new foreign policy direction for our country – one that replaces
randomness with purpose, ideology with strategy, and chaos with peace.
It is time to shake the rust off of
America’s foreign policy. It's time to invite new voices and new visions into
the fold.
The direction I will outline today will
also return us to a timeless principle. My foreign policy will always put the
interests of the American people, and American security, above all else. That
will be the foundation of every decision that I will make.
America First will be the major and
overriding theme of my administration.
But to chart our path forward, we must
first briefly look back.
We have a lot to be proud of. In the 1940s
we saved the world. The Greatest Generation beat back the Nazis and the
Japanese Imperialists.
Then we saved the world again, this time
from totalitarian Communism. The Cold War lasted for decades, but we won.
Democrats and Republicans working together
got Mr. Gorbachev to heed the words of President Reagan when he said: “tear
down this wall.”
History will not forget what we did.
Unfortunately, after the Cold War, our
foreign policy veered badly off course. We failed to develop a new vision for a
new time. In fact, as time went on, our foreign policy began to make less and
less sense.
Logic was replaced with foolishness and
arrogance, and this led to one foreign policy disaster after another.
We went from mistakes in Iraq to Egypt to
Libya, to President Obama’s line in the sand in Syria. Each of these actions
have helped to throw the region into chaos, and gave ISIS the space it needs to
grow and prosper.
It all began with the dangerous idea that
we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or
interest in becoming a Western Democracy.
We tore up what institutions they had and
then were surprised at what we unleashed. Civil war, religious fanaticism;
thousands of American lives, and many trillions of dollars, were lost as a
result. The vacuum was created that ISIS would fill. Iran, too, would rush in
and fill the void, much to their unjust enrichment.
Our foreign policy is a complete and total
disaster.
No vision, no purpose, no direction, no
strategy.
Today, I want to identify five main
weaknesses in our foreign policy.
First, Our Resources Are
Overextended
President Obama has weakened our military
by weakening our economy. He’s crippled us with wasteful spending, massive
debt, low growth, a huge trade deficit and open borders.
Our manufacturing trade deficit with the
world is now approaching $1 trillion a year. We’re rebuilding other countries
while weakening our own.
Ending the theft of American jobs will
give us the resources we need to rebuild our military and regain our financial
independence and strength.
I am the only person running for the
Presidency who understands this problem and knows how to fix it.
Secondly, our allies are not
paying their fair share.
Our allies must contribute toward the
financial, political and human costs of our tremendous security burden. But
many of them are simply not doing so. They look at the United States as weak
and forgiving and feel no obligation to honor their agreements with us.
In NATO, for instance, only 4 of 28 other
member countries, besides America, are spending the minimum required 2% of GDP
on defense.
We have spent trillions of dollars over
time – on planes, missiles, ships, equipment – building up our military to
provide a strong defense for Europe and Asia. The countries we are defending
must pay for the cost of this defense – and, if not, the U.S. must be prepared
to let these countries defend themselves.
The whole world will be safer if our
allies do their part to support our common defense and security.
A Trump Administration will lead a free
world that is properly armed and funded.
Thirdly, our friends are
beginning to think they can’t depend on us.
We’ve had a president who dislikes our
friends and bows to our enemies.
He negotiated a disastrous deal with Iran,
and then we watched them ignore its terms, even before the ink was dry.
Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear
weapon and, under a Trump Administration, will never be allowed to have a
nuclear weapon.
All of this without even mentioning the
humiliation of the United States with Iran’s treatment of our ten captured
sailors.
In negotiation, you must be willing to
walk. The Iran deal, like so many of our worst agreements, is the result of not
being willing to leave the table. When the other side knows you’re not going to
walk, it becomes absolutely impossible to win.
At the same time, your friends need to
know that you will stick by the agreements that you have with them.
President Obama gutted our missile defense
program, then abandoned our missile defense plans with Poland and the Czech
Republic.
He supported the ouster of a friendly
regime in Egypt that had a longstanding peace treaty with Israel – and then
helped bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in its place.
Israel, our great friend and the one true
Democracy in the Middle East, has been snubbed and criticized by an
Administration that lacks moral clarity. Just a few days ago, Vice President
Biden again criticized Israel – a force for justice and peace – for acting as
an impediment to peace in the region.
President Obama has not been a friend to
Israel. He has treated Iran with tender love and care and made it a great power
in the Middle East – all at the expense of Israel, our other allies in the
region and, critically, the United States.
We’ve picked fights with our oldest
friends, and now they’re starting to look elsewhere for help.
Fourth, our rivals no longer
respect us.
In fact, they are just as confused as our
allies, but an even bigger problem is that they don’t take us seriously any
more.
When President Obama landed in Cuba on Air
Force One, no leader was there to meet or greet him – perhaps an incident
without precedent in the long and prestigious history of Air Force One.
Then, amazingly, the same thing happened
in Saudi Arabia -- it's called no respect.
Do you remember when the President made a
long and expensive trip to Copenhagen, Denmark to get the Olympics for our
country, and, after this unprecedented effort, it was announced that the United
States came in fourth place?
He should have known the result before
making such an embarrassing commitment.
The list of humiliations goes on and on.
President Obama watches helplessly as
North Korea increases its aggression and expands even further with its nuclear
reach.
Our president has allowed China to
continue its economic assault on American jobs and wealth, refusing to enforce
trade rules – or apply the leverage on China necessary to rein in North Korea.
He has even allowed China to steal
government secrets with cyber attacks and engage in industrial espionage
against the United States and its companies.
We’ve let our rivals and challengers think
they can get away with anything.
If President Obama’s goal had been to
weaken America, he could not have done a better job.
Finally, America no longer has
a clear understanding of our foreign policy goals.
Since the end of the Cold War and the
break-up of the Soviet Union, we’ve lacked a coherent foreign policy.
One day we’re bombing Libya and getting
rid of a dictator to foster democracy for civilians, the next day we are
watching the same civilians suffer while that country falls apart.
We're a humanitarian nation. But the
legacy of the Obama-Clinton interventions will be weakness, confusion, and
disarray.
We have made the Middle East more unstable
and chaotic than ever before.
We left Christians subject to intense
persecution and even genocide.
Our actions in Iraq, Libya and Syria have
helped unleash ISIS.
And we’re in a war against radical Islam,
but President Obama won’t even name the enemy!
Hillary Clinton also refuses to say the
words “radical Islam,” even as she pushes for a massive increase in refugees.
After Secretary Clinton’s failed
intervention in Libya, Islamic terrorists in Benghazi took down our consulate
and killed our ambassador and three brave Americans. Then, instead of taking
charge that night, Hillary Clinton decided to go home and sleep! Incredible.
Clinton blames it all on a video, an
excuse that was a total lie. Our Ambassador was murdered and our Secretary of
State misled the nation – and by the way, she was not awake to take that call
at 3 o'clock in the morning.
And now ISIS is making millions of dollars
a week selling Libyan oil.
This will change when I am
president.
To all our friends and allies, I say
America is going to be strong again. America is going to be a reliable friend
and ally again.
We’re going to finally have a coherent
foreign policy based upon American interests, and the shared interests of our
allies.
We are getting out of the nation-building
business, and instead focusing on creating stability in the world.
Our moments of greatest strength came when
politics ended at the water’s edge.
We need a new, rational American foreign policy,
informed by the best minds and supported by both parties, as well as by our
close allies.
This is how we won the Cold War, and it’s
how we will win our new and future struggles.
First, we need a long-term plan
to halt the spread and reach of radical Islam.
Containing the spread of radical Islam
must be a major foreign policy goal of the United States.
Events may require the use of military
force. But it’s also a philosophical struggle, like our long struggle in the
Cold War.
In this we’re going to be working very
closely with our allies in the Muslim world, all of which are at risk from
radical Islamic violence.
We should work together with any nation in
the region that is threatened by the rise of radical Islam. But this has to be
a two-way street – they must also be good to us and remember us and all we are
doing for them.
The struggle against radical Islam also
takes place in our homeland. There are scores of recent migrants inside our
borders charged with terrorism. For every case known to the public, there are
dozens more.
We must stop importing extremism through
senseless immigration policies.
A pause for reassessment will help us to
prevent the next San Bernardino or worse -- all you have to do is look at the
World Trade Center and September 11th.
And then there’s ISIS. I have a simple
message for them. Their days are numbered. I won’t tell them where and I won’t
tell them how. We must as, a nation, be more unpredictable. But they’re going
to be gone. And soon.
Secondly, we have to rebuild
our military and our economy.
The Russians and Chinese have rapidly
expanded their military capability, but look what’s happened to us!
Our nuclear weapons arsenal – our ultimate
deterrent – has been allowed to atrophy and is desperately in need of
modernization and renewal.
Our active duty armed forces have shrunk
from 2 million in 1991 to about 1.3 million today.
The Navy has shrunk from over 500 ships to
272 ships during that time.
The Air Force is about 1/3 smaller than
1991. Pilots are flying B-52s in combat missions today which are older than
most people in this room.
And what are we doing about this?
President Obama has proposed a 2017 defense budget that, in real dollars, cuts
nearly 25% from what we were spending in 2011.
Our military is depleted, and we’re asking
our generals and military leaders to worry about global warming.
We will spend what we need to rebuild our
military. It is the cheapest investment we can make. We will develop, build and
purchase the best equipment known to mankind. Our military dominance must be
unquestioned.
But we will look for savings and spend our
money wisely. In this time of mounting debt, not one dollar can be wasted.
We are also going to have to change our
trade, immigration and economic policies to make our economy strong again – and
to put Americans first again. This will ensure that our own workers, right here
in America, get the jobs and higher pay that will grow our tax revenue and
increase our economic might as a nation.
We need to think smarter about areas where
our technological superiority gives us an edge. This includes 3-D printing,
artificial intelligence and cyberwarfare.
A great country also takes care of its
warriors. Our commitment to them is absolute. A Trump Administration will give
our service men and women the best equipment and support in the world when they
serve, and the best care in the world when they return as veterans to civilian
life.
Finally, we must develop a
foreign policy based on American interests.
Businesses do not succeed when they lose
sight of their core interests and neither do countries.
Look at what happened in the 1990s. Our
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were attacked and seventeen brave sailors were
killed on the USS Cole. And what did we do? It seemed we put more effort into
adding China to the World Trade Organization – which has been a disaster for
the United States – than into stopping Al Qaeda.
We even had an opportunity to take out
Osama Bin Laden, and didn’t do it. And then, we got hit at the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, the worst attack on our country in its history.
Our foreign policy goals must be based on
America’s core national security interests, and the following will be my
priorities.
In the Middle East, our goals must be to
defeat terrorists and promote regional stability, not radical change. We need
to be clear-sighted about the groups that will never be anything other than enemies.
And we must only be generous to those that
prove they are our friends.
We desire to live peacefully and in
friendship with Russia and China. We have serious differences with these two
nations, and must regard them with open eyes. But we are not bound to be
adversaries. We should seek common ground based on shared interests. Russia,
for instance, has also seen the horror of Islamic terrorism.
I believe an easing of tensions and
improved relations with Russia – from a position of strength – is possible.
Common sense says this cycle of hostility must end. Some say the Russians won’t
be reasonable. I intend to find out. If we can’t make a good deal for America,
then we will quickly walk from the table.
Fixing our relations with China is another
important step towards a prosperous century. China respects strength, and by
letting them take advantage of us economically, we have lost all of their
respect. We have a massive trade deficit with China, a deficit we must find a
way, quickly, to balance.
A strong and smart America is an America
that will find a better friend in China. We can both benefit or we can both go
our separate ways.
After I am elected President, I will also
call for a summit with our NATO allies, and a separate summit with our Asian
allies. In these summits, we will not only discuss a rebalancing of financial
commitments, but take a fresh look at how we can adopt new strategies for
tackling our common challenges.
For instance, we will discuss how we can
upgrade NATO’s outdated mission and structure – grown out of the Cold War – to
confront our shared challenges, including migration and Islamic terrorism.
I will not hesitate to deploy military
force when there is no alternative. But if America fights, it must fight to
win. I will never send our finest into battle unless necessary – and will only
do so if we have a plan for victory.
Our goal is peace and prosperity, not war
and destruction.
The best way to achieve those goals is
through a disciplined, deliberate and consistent foreign policy.
With President Obama and Secretary Clinton
we’ve had the exact opposite: a reckless, rudderless and aimless foreign policy
– one that has blazed a path of destruction in its wake.
After losing thousands of lives and
spending trillions of dollars, we are in far worse shape now in the Middle East
than ever before.
I challenge anyone to explain the
strategic foreign policy vision of Obama-Clinton – it has been a complete and
total disaster.
I will also be prepared to deploy
America’s economic resources. Financial leverage and sanctions can be very
persuasive – but we need to use them selectively and with determination. Our
power will be used if others do not play by the rules.
Our friends and enemies must know that if
I draw a line in the sand, I will enforce it.
However, unlike other candidates for the
presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have a
foreign policy without diplomacy. A superpower understands that caution and
restraint are signs of strength.
Although not in government service, I was
totally against the War in Iraq, saying for many years that it would
destabilize the Middle East. Sadly, I was correct, and the biggest beneficiary
was Iran, who is systematically taking over Iraq and gaining access to their
rich oil reserves – something it has wanted to do for decades. And now, to top
it all off, we have ISIS.
My goal is to establish a foreign policy
that will endure for several generations.
That is why I will also look for talented
experts with new approaches, and practical ideas, rather than surrounding
myself with those who have perfect resumes but very little to brag about except
responsibility for a long history of failed policies and continued losses at
war.
Finally, I will work with our allies to
reinvigorate Western values and institutions. Instead of trying to spread
“universal values” that not everyone shares, we should understand that
strengthening and promoting Western civilization and its accomplishments will
do more to inspire positive reforms around the world than military
interventions.
These are my goals, as
president.
I will seek a foreign policy that all
Americans, whatever their party, can support, and which our friends and allies
will respect and welcome.
The world must know that we do not go
abroad in search of enemies, that we are always happy when old enemies become
friends, and when old friends become allies.
To achieve these goals, Americans must
have confidence in their country and its leadership again.
Many Americans must wonder why our
politicians seem more interested in defending the borders of foreign countries
than their own.
Americans must know that we are putting
the American people first again. On trade, on immigration, on foreign policy –
the jobs, incomes and security of the American worker will always be my first
priority.
No country has ever prospered that failed
to put its own interests first. Both our friends and enemies put their
countries above ours and we, while being fair to them, must do the same.
We will no longer surrender this country,
or its people, to the false song of globalism.
The nation-state remains the true
foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical of international unions
that tie us up and bring America down, and will never enter America into any
agreement that reduces our ability to control our own affairs.
NAFTA, as an example, has been a total
disaster for the U.S. and has emptied our states of our manufacturing and our
jobs. Never again. Only the reverse will happen. We will keep our jobs and
bring in new ones. Their will be consequences for companies that leave the U.S.
only to exploit it later.
Under a Trump Administration, no American
citizen will ever again feel that their needs come second to the citizens of
foreign countries.
I will view the world through the clear
lens of American interests.
I will be America’s greatest defender and
most loyal champion. We will not apologize for becoming successful again, but
will instead embrace the unique heritage that makes us who we are.
The world is most peaceful, and most
prosperous, when America is strongest.
America will continually play the role of
peacemaker.
We will always help to save lives and,
indeed, humanity itself. But to play that role, we must make America strong
again.
We must make America respected again. And
we must make America great again.
If we do that, perhaps this century can be
the most peaceful and prosperous the world has ever known. Thank you.
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