Is the Philippines ready for Trump?

The incoming Trump administration in the US has promised that it would be radically different from the Biden administration.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

The primary concern of the Philippines is whether the foreign policy towards Asia and China will remain the same or will take a different direction.

In other foreign policy issues, president-elect Trump has already indicated he will not follow the same direction as Biden. He has said that he wants an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. This means that Russia will be allowed to retain part of the Ukrainian territory that it is now occupying. President Zelensky of Ukraine has repeated several times that they will never negotiate while Russia holds some of their territory. However, the United States has been the biggest source of military assistance for Ukraine. If this aid is cut off, the question is whether the European nations will be able to provide the necessary aid as a substitute for this assistance. If the EU is unable to fill in this vacuum, then Zelensky might have no choice except to negotiate while Russian troops continue to occupy Ukrainian territory. This will be a clear deviation from the present American policy of providing Ukraine the support that it needs.

In the Middle East, Trump has recently said that he does not intend to interfere in Syria. In fact, he has gone further by announcing that the events in Syria are of no interest to the United States.

These are examples of the United States seemingly following an isolationist policy under Trump. The question is whether this isolationism will also be the policy in Asia, especially with China.