The Limits of Trump’s Peace Through Strength Foreign Policy

Donald J. Trump’s threat to impose 5% tariffs on goods from Mexico to force tougher border enforcement is the latest move in his Peace Through Strength foreign policy. Trump’s April 2019 announcement to withdraw aid to three Central American countries because they are not doing enough to stop asylum seekers, is another recent example. Certainly, Trump is not the first president to employ a policy that reduces investment in aid and diplomacy, with significant cuts to the State Department and USAID, while at the same time boosting military spending. Nevertheless, Trump’s emphasize on coercive instruments over diplomacy is primed to fail because it contradicts his other main strategy—namely, his Strategy of Exhaustion, which is designed to weaken his opponents in a cyclone of falsehoods.