What do they stand for? – Foreign policy of Trump and Harris under scrutiny

War in the Middle East
Harris and Trump are both staunch supporters of Israel, but differ on the extent to which they want to restrain ally Israel in light of the military escalation in the Middle East. Harris made clear that under her leadership the US would continue to supply Israel with weapons – contrary to calls for an embargo from the left wing of her Democratic Party.

At the same time, however, it clearly emphasizes the Palestinians’ “right to self-determination” and announces that it will not remain silent about the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Trump’s Republicans are staunch supporters of Israel. Your candidate has repeatedly accused incumbent Joe Biden of failing in his policies to protect the country, most recently with the Iranian missile attack on Israel on October 1 in response to the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

During his term (2017-2021), Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem in a highly controversial manner and launched the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic rapprochement between Israel and some Arab states to normalize their relations. Trump hates Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for recognizing Biden’s 2020 election victory — and not taking up his false claim of election fraud.

War in Ukraine
The views are opposite: the Republican is a staunch opponent of billions in aid to Kiev. With his taking office, it would be expected that the US would no longer be Kiev’s main donor. Trump wants to end the war quickly, which would likely mean forcing Ukraine to give up much of the territory occupied by Russia. At the same time, the real estate billionaire likes to say that he gets along “great” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Harris, on the other hand, never left any doubt that U.S. support for Ukraine would be provided “as long as necessary.” In view of Russia’s war of aggression, the US, the largest donor state, “stands firmly on the side of Ukraine and our NATO allies.”

The allies in NATO
Trump has always called on his allies to spend more money on their own defense – directly calling into question the NATO aid pact. In the spring, the Republican repeated his threat that he would not come to the aid of failing NATO partners if they were attacked. He would even encourage the Russians to do ‘whatever they want’ to them.

The vice president has positioned himself as a strong supporter of multilateral cooperation and NATO. The United States has an “unwavering commitment to NATO,” she once said. From their perspective, it would be foolish to jeopardize America’s global alliances.

The great rival China
Both Republicans and Democrats see China as the biggest long-term challenge for the American superpower. During his first term, Trump launched a trade war with China and imposed tariff increases.

During the election campaign, Trump also used his aggressive rhetoric towards China, stating that he could also imagine a “deal” with President Xi Jinping, whom he once hosted at his Florida estate. However, he wants to extend his aggressive customs policy to ‘all’ imported goods.

In competition with China, the Biden-Harris administration adopted and recently tightened the tariff increases introduced by Trump. Further increases came into effect at the end of September, mainly affecting electric cars, batteries, microchips and a number of raw materials. Harris accuses Trump of being responsible for selling American technology to China, which now benefits the Chinese military.

On the Taiwan issue, Trump took a similar position to his NATO partners: Taipei must pay for the protection provided by US forces. Harris said of Taiwan that the status quo should remain in place. The US supported “Taiwan’s self-defense, consistent with our long-standing policies.”