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Commentary
The Wall Street Journal

The Three Stages of Trump’s Foreign Policy

Now it’s time for leadership, strategy, and results

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a conference with federal, state and local veterans leaders in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building November 15, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Caption
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a conference with federal, state and local veterans leaders in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building November 15, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Trump’s foreign policy has passed through two stages—one restrained and one more turbulent. The third and most decisive is now beginning to take shape.

Through most of his first year in office, Mr. Trump moved cautiously on the international stage and tended to defer to mainstream advisers. Starting last spring with the departures of H.R. McMaster and Gary Cohn, Mr. Trump has been taking more radical steps, ramping up tariff wars around the world while jettisoning the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Universal Postal Union.

Read the full article on the Wall Street Journal's website "here":https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-three-stages-of-trumps-foreign-policy-…