Trump Doctrine 2.0

Express Tribune

2 days ago

Starting from President James Monroe in December 1823 till Donald Trump in 2025, policy statements from different American presidents from time to time have been attributed as doctrines.
According to AI, "Presidential doctrines in US foreign policy are major, overarching policy stances or strategies announced by a president, often shaping the nation's approach to international relations for a significant period. These doctrines are not legally binding but reflect a president's vision for the world and guide their actions on the global stage. They often emerge in response to specific geopolitical situations and can have lasting impacts on U.S. foreign policy."
Major US doctrines proclaimed by various American Presidents like Monroe, Truman, Eisenhower, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Obama, Biden and Trump reflected major policy statements of US administration on foreign policy matters.
How various American presidents after Second World War influenced the world through their doctrines indicated cold war and post-cold war realities. Trump Doctrine 2.0 is a recent phenomenon which was proclaimed in his second term following a set of events like the Russia-Ukraine War, the War in Gaza, and the Indo-Pak armed conflict of May 7-10 and the Israel-Iran war. Trump Doctrine, proclaimed in his first presidency, focused on accomplishing his objective enshrined in 'Make America Great Again', but the doctrine declared in his second term covered a wide range of international issues. After assuming power on January 20, 2025 Trump came up with strange type of ideas like getting hold of Greenland; making Canada the 51st province of America; getting control of Panama Canal; and renaming Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. He also talked about ending wars starting with the ones in Ukraine and Gaza. But, most of his ideas, part of what is termed his makeshift doctrine, in his first 100 days in power were overshadowed with his tariff war and taking credit for the Indo-Pak ceasefire and ending the Israel-Iran. All that enabled him to claim that he deserves Nobel Peace Prize.
What is Trump Doctrine 2.0? Is it like other doctrines of various American Presidents proclaimed since the Monroe doctrine? Is Trump Doctrine taken seriously by the world given his maverick and unpredictable personality? Is the US capable of proceeding with Trump Doctrine and what are the contradictions which are reflected in American president's policy statements? Some of the doctrines proclaimed by American presidents were announced during State of Union Address by US presidents and others were a reflection of their stance on various foreign policy matters. While the Monroe, Carter, Truman and Bush doctrines were pretty focused, the so-called Trump Doctrine is haphazard.
According to a Reuters piece by Steve Holland and David Brunnstrom titled 'The latest US foray into military action has a name: The Trump Doctrine' dated June 26, 2025, "To some observers, however, the new doctrine sounds like an effort to offer a tidy framework to describe a foreign policy that often looks unpredictable and inconsistent I don't think Trump has a doctrine. I think Trump has only held instincts, [says Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]."
A report in Politico magazine of June 24, 2025 titled "Vance outlines the 'Trump Doctrine' at political dinner in Ohio" quotes Vice President JD Vance as saying, "What I call the Trump Doctrine is quite simple: Number one, you articulate a clear American interest and that's, in this case, that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. Number two, you try to aggressively diplomatically solve that problem. And number three, when you can't solve it diplomatically, you use overwhelming military power to solve it and then you get the hell out of there before it ever becomes a protracted conflict."
Trump is known for making U-turns in his policy statements. On the eve of the Indo-Pak military confrontation on May 7, he and his vice president made it clear that the US had nothing to do with that conflict, only to take credit for the ceasefire later. When Israel attacked Iran on June 13 and Iran retaliated Trump made it clear that America was not behind Israel in its attack on Iran but within hours he began to actively support the Jewish state. Furthermore, he stated that in two weeks' time he would decide about whether or not to attack Iran, but within 24 hours his B-2 bombers attacked Iranian nuclear installations. Such U-turns reflect incoherence and inconsistency of Trump's mindset. He hailed the Iran-Israel ceasefire and used offensive words condemning violation of the ceasefire by both Israel and Iran.
Trump Doctrine is a fallacy because of three main reasons.
First, instead of acting like a statesman and a strategist, the US president is behaving like a person vying for gaining undue popularity without articulating his vision on foreign policy objectives. Once overshadowed with other foreign policy challenges like the Russia-Ukraine war, the conflict in Gaza and the Israel-Iran war, Trump's earlier pronouncements like annexing Greenland, taking control of Panama canal, making Canada America's 51st state and renaming Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America slipped into background. It means a doctrine which is a set of brief policy statement is not reflected in Trump's speeches or in his State of Union address. In his address spanning one hour and forty minutes before the Joint Session of US Congress on March 4, 2025, Trump stated, "Six weeks ago I stood beneath the dome of this capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started."
Second, the so-called Trump Doctrine of 2025 will be followed by other doctrines in coming years which will contradict his earlier policy statements. One can expect chaos and dwindling of American power in view of inconsistent and incoherent position of Trump administration in the days to come.
Finally, Trump's rash and maverick temperament will plunge the US in internal chaos and renewed conflict with China and NATO allies. It will also give an opportunity to other powers to effectively challenge American tutelage in global affairs.