Trump’s international strategy is becoming clearer

(Ross Babbage – Lowy The Interpreter) Donald Trump’s behaviour during this presidential term reveals a surprisingly deep strategic logic. The core goal remains to restore absolute American superiority over China and Russia. But Trump wants to avoid confronting these major rivals directly. He is rather working to isolate Beijing and Moscow from their international partners and deprive them of any major means of external support. At the same time, Trump is building a program of sustained economic, technology and other sanctions to markedly weaken the Chinese and Russian economies over the longer term. The evidence for this strategic approach is fairly clear from the patterns of the administration’s behaviour. – Trump’s international strategy is becoming clearer | Lowy Institute