A Composite Strategy for the Next Administration
Charles Kupchan, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, argues that many aspects of Donald Trump’s foreign policy are worth keeping because they align with fundamental changes in the international system. In an analysis published by Foreign Affairs, Kupchan explains how the next president can marry the "good impulses" of "America first" with the best elements of liberal internationalism.
Kupchan, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, contends that Trump’s foreign policy approach is a symptom rather than a cause of global disarray. He asserts that most of Trump’s instincts are sound, reflecting shifts in both the international landscape and American public opinion.
The article suggests that a more effective version of U.S. foreign policy should combine realist impulses with the liberal cause at the heart of the American experience. This composite strategy would involve Washington paring back commitments abroad, reaching across ideological divides to work with great-power rivals, operating through nimble coalitions, and repairing the United States’ broken social contract and ailing democracy.
Global Shifts and Domestic Disillusionment
Kupchan notes that power is rapidly shifting from the West to the East and from North to South. He identifies Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and other large developing countries as rising powers. While the United States and its democratic allies will remain an influential bloc, Kupchan states they will no longer be preponderant.
Domestically, Americans are growing weary of entanglement in a fragmenting world. Kupchan points to technological advances made possible by the digital age, which have undermined the social contract of the industrial era and hollowed out the middle class. Political cleavages have emerged along socioeconomic, educational, and rural-urban lines.
Liberal democracy is in retreat worldwide, including in the United States, where the centrist, bipartisan compact that long anchored U.S. statecraft has collapsed. Kupchan argues that many U.S. voters have been disillusioned by the country’s chronic overreach abroad and the affordability crisis at home.
The Gap Between Impulse and Execution
Despite Kupchan’s defense of the underlying impulses, critics from across the political spectrum have disparaged U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America first” brand of statecraft. These critics allege that Trump has alienated allies, appeased great-power rivals, launched yet another failed war of choice in the Middle East, and blundered into trade wars that have worsened the United States’ affordability crisis.
Kupchan acknowledges that Trump’s policies have badly missed their mark. He notes that Trump has started new wars and mostly failed to end old ones, while his tariffs have fueled inflation while doing little to resuscitate the manufacturing sector. Kupchan attributes these failures to marked incompetence in implementation, citing policy driven by impulse, a gutted diplomatic corps, reliance on an inexperienced inner circle, and a prioritization of loyalty over fact.
Historical Context and Recent Actions
The current political climate is rooted in long-standing public sentiment. By the time U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, more than 70 percent of Americans deemed the two-decade war a failure. This historical backdrop helped Trump successfully tap into grievances by promising to scale back international entanglements and bring back factories and manufacturing jobs.
Trump pledged “no more wars” as he ran for reelection in 2024, capitalizing on this fatigue. Reports indicate that Trump began his second term by using force sparingly. However, the administration’s approach included a single-night air campaign against Iran’s nuclear installations in June 2025, illustrating the complex reality of applying these foreign policy tenets.