Trump Wants to Put America First. He Has No Idea How.
At the start of Mr. Trump's second term, history didn't merely repeat; it doubled down. This time, the president evinced greater determination to be a 'peacemaker and unifier,' as he put it. Once again, the guardians of foreign policy orthodoxy in Washington fretted that he might dismantle their project. For the same reason, advocates of less American military intervention in the world, myself included, held out a bit of hope.
Perhaps our eyes deceived us, but there was Mr. Trump diving into talks to stop the carnage in Ukraine and Gaza and seeking a diplomatic deal with Iran. The president even sounded curiously flexible toward China, his first-term bête noire. 'We will measure our success,' Mr. Trump announced in his Inaugural Address, 'not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.'
This is a laudatory standard, which Mr. Trump deserves credit for setting. But six months into his presidency, he deserves more blame for failing to meet it. He has delivered no peace, whether in Europe or in the Middle East. His strike on Iran sums up his struggles: a frantic, fumbling attempt at negotiation cut short by a risky attack that sets the stage for further war.
Inartful dealings are only half the trouble. Mr. Trump is a thoroughly situational man in a deeply structural bind. Year after year, the United States stations its military forces on geopolitical fault lines in Europe, Asia and the Middle East simultaneously. And year after year, it gets exactly what it has placed itself to receive, inheriting distant conflicts as its own and lurching from crisis to crisis at times of its many adversaries' choosing. If Mr. Trump is to reduce the country's exorbitant defense burdens, as he claims to want, he must take the United States out of the position that guarantees them.
But for all of Mr. Trump's talk, and his critics' fears, it remains uncertain whether he will even really try.
Location of major active-duty personnel overseas as of March 2025
50 active-duty troops
Germany
Japan
Greenland
Belgium
France
Poland
Britain
Netherlands
Canada
Hungary
Romania
Turkey
Italy
Greece
Portugal
Bahrain
South Korea
Jordan
Israel
Spain
Kuwait
Egypt
U.A.E.
Qatar
Puerto Rico
Guam
Cuba
Saudi
Arabia
Thailand
Honduras
singapore
British Ocean
Territory
Australia
50 active-duty troops
Germany
Japan
Belgium
Britain
Turkey
Spain
Bahrain
Italy
S. Korea
Guam
50 active-duty troops
Germany
Japan
Greenland
Belgium
Poland
France
Britain
Netherlands
Canada
Hungary
Romania
Turkey
Italy
Greece
Portugal
South Korea
Jordan
Israel
Spain
Kuwait
Qatar
Puerto Rico
Egypt
U.A.E.
Guam
Cuba
Saudi
Arabia
Bahrain
Thailand
Honduras
singapore
British Ocean
Territory
Australia
Source: Department of Defense. Note: Excludes countries with fewer than 1,000 troops.
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