Foreign Policy Priorities of the United States During the First Term of Donald Trump: a Retrospective Analysis of Events and Doctrines

Abstract

The article focuses on the period 2017–2021 (the first presidential term of Donald Trump), which marked a turning point not only in the transformation of U.S. strategy but also in global geopolitics more broadly. It examines U.S. foreign policy in the twenty-first century as a phenomenon substantially shaped by decisions and doctrines developed, in particular since 2001, within the analytical and strategic frameworks of the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. The study seeks to provide a comprehensive historical-retrospective analysis of Washington’s foreign policy course from the perspective of contemporary events and their doctrinal underpinnings. Doctrines make it possible to identify both the enduring directions of U.S. foreign policy and the traditional perceptions of American leaders regarding external priorities. Although these perceptions evolved from one administration to another, they remained directly linked to the shaping of a new world order aligned with the political and economic interests of the United States.

The research establishes the actual role of political events and official documents that constitute the doctrinal foundation of presidential foreign policy practice, examined through the prism of traditional paradigms – namely isolationism and interventionism, as well as hard and soft power. The foreign policy strategies of American presidents and their interpretations of external imperatives are often analyzed separately from foundational policy documents, such as National Security Strategies, National Military Strategies, and the annual reports of the Secretary of Defense to the President and the U.S. Congress. The author’s approach lies not only in integrating these two dimensions but also in analyzing political perceptions shaped by agenda-setting processes that contributed to the formation and consolidation of a new international order. A retrospective examination of key events and strategic decisions during Trump’s first term makes it possible to characterize both the priorities and the structural challenges of U.S. foreign policy in the twenty-first century.