Trump has delivered a major foreign policy speech amid concern he lacks the experience or tact to run the world's most powerful nation. A major pillar of his foreign policy beliefs was putting America first.
In a major foreign policy speech, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to put American interests first, saying the US goal would be "peace and prosperity, not war and destruction."
"America first will be the major and overriding theme of my administration," Trump told a small crowd of Washington's conservative foreign policy elite, even as he vowed to bring in new people to replace a "rusty" foreign policy establishment.
His core message was that only a prosperous country could exert itself on the foreign stage - and the United States has many problems at home.
As the real estate mogul moves closer to securing the Republican nomination, he is seeking to burnish his foreign policy credentials beyond the campaign trail, where erratic comments have garnered criticism from foreign policy circles.
Trump devoted much time to criticizing President Barack Obama for running a foreign policy with "no vision" and "no purpose" that has led allies to lose confidence and adversaries to no longer respect the United States.
But he also reserved criticism for the hawkish branch of his own party for replacing logic "with foolishness and arrogance which led to one foreign policy disaster after another," citing the war in Iraq as a prime example.
In the Middle East, Trump said his priority would be defeating radical Islam and promoting regional stability, not promoting failed democracy and regime change projects.
"We've made the Middle East more unstable and chaotic than ever before," Trump said.
Defeating the self-declared "Islamic State" by working with allies in the Muslim world would be a key pillar of his strategy, he said. But he also warned that allies "have to be good to us" and the US would be only "generous to those who prove they are indeed are friends."
Repeating comments he has made on the stump, Trump said US allies in Europe and Asia must also foot the bill for defense instead of free riding on the US. "These allies must be willing to pay their part or we must be willing let them defend themselves," he said.
Those comments have stirred controversy in Europe and Asia.
Upon taking office, he said he would convene summits with NATO and Asian allies to discuss not only financial contributions, but also a restructuring of priorities away from Cold War era concepts, to new areas like migration and fighting terrorism.
With US-Russia tensions high over Syria, Ukraine and a host of other issues, Trump said he would move away from an aggressive stance against Moscow and be able to mend fences with the Kremlin based on mutual interests.
Continuing a key platform of his campaign, Trump said he was skeptical of globalization and the erosion of the nation state, especially trade deals.
(DW)
