President Donald Trump took his first trip abroad last week and gave his first international speech in front of a coalition of more than 50 Muslim-majority countries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Many Americans voiced concern about how Trump would be received abroad, especially in the Middle East, because of his notoriously harsh campaign rhetoric. The warm reception for his speech should alleviate those concerns. Overall, the speech sent a clear message to these countries — and the world — that the foreign policy of the U.S. is going to be entirely different than it was under former President Barack Obama.
Fortunately, Trump seems to have learned from the foreign policy blunders of the Obama presidency, which unquestionably left nearly every corner of the globe more unstable than it was before (from the South China Sea, to the Middle East, to Russia, to North Korea). Instead of starting off his relationship with the Arab world with an “apology tour” like his predecessor, Trump made it clear that the U.S. will be apologizing to no one.
Instead of lecturing the crowd on his interpretation of history and dancing around the issue of radicalization, Trump got straight to the point. He vowed that he would provide whatever support is necessary for Middle Eastern countries to stamp out extremism. Trump pointed out that “more than 95 percent of the victims of terrorism are themselves Muslim,” but he reassured Muslim leaders that this evil can be overcome. Trump also cautioned that “the nations of the Middle East cannot wait for American power to crush this enemy for them.”
This is a clear shift from the Obama policy. Trump is a strong proponent of individual responsibility; he believes the Middle East can lead the fight against radicalization. This change in policy will hold other governments more accountable and implore them to take whatever action they view necessary to eliminate terrorism, which will hopefully produce results that make not only Muslim-majority countries more secure, but the rest of the world as well.
Perhaps the greatest shift in policy is with Iran. Obama made continuous efforts to mend this historically troubled relationship, even going as far as lifting economic sanctions in exchange for international monitoring of its nuclear program. At a glance, it seemed like this policy might produce results, but anyone who knows Iran should have realized this was going to be a serious mistake. Secretly delivering pallets of cash to the largest state sponsor of terrorism, whose leaders continue to chant “death to America” while developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, now looks misguided, at least to everyone except Obama.
Trump called out Iran, exclaiming that ,“Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.” Many experts believe that Iran poses the single greatest threat to American security. It is refreshing to see a president who actually puts the country’s interests first, at home and abroad, instead of pandering to whatever audience is in front of him.
Hopefully, this shift in foreign policy will begin to restore the stability, which was effectively destroyed over the past eight years, that comes with effective American leadership abroad. This may actually be a change we can believe in.
Jack Story is UF political science graduate. His column appears on Tuesdays.
