Getting to know Donald J. Trump, politician

2017 moved beyond the bluster of the campaign trail to reveal a true modus operandi for President Trump, the political outsider who has rocketed from radical fringe to the highest office in the United States. His governing style over the course of the year reflected an eagerness to dismantle the Obama legacy on all fronts, whether on Cuba or Iran or within the UN climate framework. It showed a penchant for unleashing his trademark bravado on the world stage, though almost always without any real follow-up, as has been the case so far with North Korea. But most importantly, it revealed a near total lack of any ideological commitment in his overall foreign policy vision. The most coherent and consistent aspect of President Trump’s foreign policy through 2017 is that it’s mostly aimed for domestic consumption, and given that midterm elections are looming in 2018 – contests that could be ‘yugely’ consequential for Trump’s political future – this domestic fixation will surely persist in the year head.

Here’s what to look out for in year two of the Trump presidency:

 

NAFTA: ‘The single worst deal ever approved’

Scrapping the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) became a rallying call for President Trump and his base, who blame the agreement for shifting US manufacturing jobs to Mexico. Although Trump campaigned on killing the deal outright, once in office he was convinced by advisors to try and renegotiate the agreement before giving up on it altogether.