If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he should sever all economic ties with China, consider deploying the entire U.S. Marine Corps to Asia and resume live nuclear-weapons testing, his former national security adviser writes in an article offering the most detailed account of what foreign policy may look like in a second Trump term.<\/p>\n
The proposals are spelled out in an article set to appear in Foreign Affairs magazine written by Trump\u2019s last national security adviser, Robert O\u2019Brien, who may get another top job if Trump wins a new term as president in November. <\/p>\n
While O\u2019Brien was a hardliner and helped fuel the tougher stance toward China that emerged late in Trump\u2019s time in office, the prescriptions he spells out go far beyond anything he publicly advocated at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs China seeks to undermine American economic and military strength, Washington should return the favor,\u201d O\u2019Brien writes in the article\u2019s most explosive policy prescription, saying that \u201cWashington should, in fact, seek to decouple its economy from China\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no guarantee Trump would adhere to the policy proposals on China that O\u2019Brien lays out in the article, especially one that would have such a seismic impact for the U.S. and the world given how interwoven the two countries\u2019 economies have become. <\/p>\n
But O\u2019Brien said recently that he remains in \u201cregular contact\u201d with the former president, and he\u2019s taken the public stage more often in recent months, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and criticizing President Joe Biden for what he considered an insufficient response to attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n
The article is only the latest in a series of such initiatives from former Trump administration officials and conservative think tanks. But O\u2019Brien\u2019s previous role and the prospect of his return give it more weight than others.<\/p>\n
Christian Whiton, a State Department political appointee under Presidents George W. Bush and Trump who helped O\u2019Brien produce the article, said O\u2019Brien gave a copy to Trump campaign adviser Susie Wiles. Whiton said Wiles showed a printed copy to Trump. The Trump campaign, which has previously said that only Trump can speak authoritatively on his policy plans, didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment on O\u2019Brien\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n
At more than 5,000 words, the article \u2014 \u201cThe Return of Peace Through Strength: Making the Case for Trump\u2019s Foreign Policy\u201d \u2014 argues that the 60% tariffs on China that Trump has floated should be only the first step, followed by tougher export controls \u201con any technology that might be of use to China\u201d and other measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis morass of American weakness and failure cries out for a Trumpian restoration of peace through strength,\u201d O\u2019Brien writes.<\/p>\n
He also advocates a military challenge to China beyond the additional attention the Biden administration has paid to the Asia-Pacific region. O\u2019Brien argues for the U.S. to help expand the militaries of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, increase military assistance to Taiwan and boost missile defense and fighter jet protection in the region. <\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien calls for a complete reorientation of U.S. forces, saying the U.S. should consider deploying all its 177,000 Marines to the Pacific region, \u201crelieving it in particular of missions in the Middle East and North Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. should beef up its nuclear arsenal by conducting underground nuclear tests for the first time since a self-imposed ban in 1992, and he argues the U.S. should resume production of uranium-235 and plutonium-239 \u201cif China and Russia continue to refuse to engage in good-faith arms control talks.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump has said he\u2019d end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. O\u2019Brien writes in the article that Trump has \u201cmade clear that he would like to see a negotiated settlement to the war that ends the killing and preserves the security of Ukraine.\u201d <\/p>\n
He writes that Trump\u2019s approach \u201cwould be to continue to provide lethal aid to Ukraine, financed by European countries, while keeping the door open to diplomacy with Russia \u2014 and keeping Moscow off balance with a degree of unpredictability.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are moves O\u2019Brien doesn\u2019t call for, and that may be a pleasant surprise to uneasy allies. There\u2019s no mention of withdrawing from NATO \u2014 in fact, he says Trump made the defense alliance stronger by demanding that European governments spend more on defense. <\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien calls on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to rotate ground and air forces to Poland to boost its capabilities close to Russia\u2019s border \u201cand to make unmistakably clear that the alliance will defend all its territory from foreign aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien also takes on what he sees as the Pentagon\u2019s bloated procurement policies. He advocates a push toward \u201cnimble newer defense suppliers such as Anduril and Palantir,\u201d companies that he says are \u201crooted in the innovative tech sector\u201d to get away from costly and unnecessary programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no authoritative preview of Trump foreign policy 2016,\u201d Whiton said of O\u2019Brien\u2019s thinking about the article. \u201cThe audience is foreigners and the establishment. As much as Trump views himself as an insurgent, there\u2019s utility in calming things down and providing some things. I think you\u2019re seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(With assistance from Stephanie Lai.)<\/p>\n
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