Donald Trump’s “America First” address to the World Economic Forum in Davos represents a radical break from US foreign policy doctrine, says David Sylvan, Professor of International Relations/Political Science and Research Director of the Graduate Institute.

“These are the same themes he has been hammering away at since he first announced his candidacy for president”, says Professor Sylvan. “That the US needs to look after itself first (not that any US president ever would have disagreed); that he, Trump, had done and would do great things; and that the US would enter into arrangements with other countries to the extent it was explicitly advantageous to the US.”

“Trump's interpretation of the first and third of these themes put him flatly at odds with the entire tradition of US foreign policy since 1941, when the US first entered into World War II. Specifically, Trump rejected multilateralism and announced a short-term, mercenary understanding of international cooperation. The fact that he did so in language that, for him, was relatively genteel should not obscure the fact that he essentially declared war on the entire post-World War II order. Leaders and commentators in the rest of the world should be on their guard.”

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