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In Brief: Foreign Policy Surprises in Trump’s First 100 Days

April 29, 2025
In Brief: Foreign Policy Surprises in Trump’s First 100 Days
In Brief: Foreign Policy Surprises in Trump’s First 100 Days

In Brief: Foreign Policy Surprises in Trump’s First 100 Days

Kori Schake, Patricia Kim, Max Bergmann, Alex Vatanka, and Jeremy Shapiro
April 29, 2025
Today marks the 100th day of Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. We asked five foreign policy and national security experts: What has surprised you most about Trump’s first 100 days?Read more below.Kori Schake Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies American Enterprise InstituteThe biggest surprise of Trump’s second term is the administration’s over-estimation of American power. They seem not to realize that other states and actors have moves available to them other than capitulation to U.S. demands — or that they have things the United States needs that provide them with some leverage. So, administration officials lack strategies for achieving their ambitious objectives because of an inability to think past the first move. They’re confounded that the Chinese will absorb costs to counter tariffs, that Europeans can refuse to lift sanctions on Russia, or that Ukraine might judge the United States as so adversarial that refusing a peace deal would be preferable to accepting it. The consequence is revealing how much U.S. power actually relies on others wanting us to succeed — goodwill the Trump administration is rapidly destroying and that will take a generation to rebuild.Patricia Kim Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center for Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center Brookings InstitutionOne striking feature of the Trump administration’s approach to China in the past 100 days is how little has changed. The core grievances — concerns over China’s unfair trade practices, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and threats to U.S. national security — remain the same. These challenges were not adequately addressed during the previous iteration of the trade war, yet the administration continues to rely on the same tactics. On top of that, its decision to pick simultaneous fights with the rest of the world — including key allies — through an unrestrained tariff war has undermined the partnerships necessary to address

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Today marks the 100th day of Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. We asked five foreign policy and national security experts: What has surprised you most about Trump’s first 100 days?Read more below.Kori Schake Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies American Enterprise InstituteThe biggest surprise of Trump’s second term is the administration’s over-estimation of American power. They seem not to realize that other states and actors have moves available to them other than capitulation to U.S. demands — or that they have things the United States needs that provide them with some leverage. So, administration officials lack strategies for

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