Tag: Trump foreign policy

Trump tells NRA he’s pulling US from arms treaty

President Trump on Friday announced he is withdrawing U.S. support for an international arms-trade treaty, the administration’s latest move to distance the country from global agreements and institutions.

Speaking at a National Rifle Association (NRA) convention in Indianapolis, Trump said he would “never” ratify the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty that was signed by former President Obama in 2013.

“Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone,” Trump told the group, which erupted in applause. “We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedoms.”

View the complete April 26 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

North Korea announces firing of tactical guided weapon

TOKYO — North Korea announced Thursday that it had test-fired a new tactical guided weapon, in its first public weapons test since the breakdown of a summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un in February.

It was not immediately clear what type of weapon the North Koreans fired, but experts said the description of a tactical weapon, with guided flight, capable of carrying a powerful warhead and fired at a variety of targets, suggested a short-range missile rather a longer-range ballistic missile, meaning the move would not violate North Korea’s self-declared moratorium on testing.

Nevertheless, experts said the action was a calibrated sign of defiance by Kim following a stalemate in the denuclearization talks and a reminder that his country was continuing to develop its conventional weapons program. But they said it does not close the door on diplomacy or negotiations about North Korea’s nuclear program.

View the complete April 18 article by Simon Denyer and John Hudson on The Washington Post website here.

Scoop: Chinese block visit of Trump confidant

China recently declined to issue a visa to Michael Pillsbury, an informal adviser to President Trump on China policy, in an unusual move that comes as the Trump administration steps up its scrutiny of Chinese experts attempting to travel to the U.S.

Why it matters: Trump has praised Pillsbury, a hawkish former Pentagon official and author, as “the leading authority on China.” Pillsbury regularly discusses China with Trump, including during an Oval Office meeting about a month ago. Pillsbury told Axios he has visited China over 50 times since the 1970s and this is the first time his visa request hasn’t been approved.

How it happened: Pillsbury was due to participate in a conference in Beijing last Sunday hosted by the Center for China and Globalization. He was also invited to an event at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing hosted by Ambassador Terry Branstad.

View the complete April 18 article by Jonathan Swan and Dave Lawler on the Axios website here.

Trump administration announces new measures against Cuba

During a April 17 address, National security adviser John Bolton announced new sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. (Reuters)

The Trump administration levied new sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua on Wednesday, using the language of the Cold War — and of President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign — in a vow to combat socialism, communism and human rights abuses.

The heaviest measures were directed at Cuba. U.S. citizens will now be allowed to sue any entity or person found to be “trafficking” in property that was expropriated from U.S. citizens after the 1959 revolution. Trump’s three immediate predecessors in office had suspended that right, sustaining a 1996 law containing Cuba sanctions, on the grounds that it would interfere with trade and national security.

The administration is also reimposing limits on the amounts of money that Cuban Americans can send to relatives on the island, as well as the frequency of transactions, and ordering new restrictions on travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens. Those actions further reverse President Barack Obama’s moves to normalize relations with Havana, which Trump has called “terrible and misguided.”

View the complete April 17 article by Karen DeYoung on The Washington Post website here.

Aid Cuts Won’t Slow Central America’s Exodus

Cutting aid to impoverished countries will give desperate people more reasons to leave, not to stay, experts say.

LIMA, PERU — Experts agree that U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to halt some $500 million in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras likely won’t lessen the migration crisis at the United States’ border with Mexico.

“We were paying them tremendous amounts of money and we’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us,” Trump declared on March 29, when he announced the measure in retaliation for the supposed failure of the three Central American governments to stem illegal migration to the United States. “They set up these caravans in many cases; they put their worst people in the caravan. They’re not going to put their best in. They get rid of their problems and they march up here.”

But the money is actually intended to allow potential emigrants to stay at home by improving living conditions in the impoverished, violence-wracked countries, including by encouraging economic development and job creation, and helping to tackle rampant corruption and impunity.

View the complete April 9 article by Simeon Tegel, contributing author, on The U.S. News and World Report website here.

Trump surprises his own aides by reversing North Korea sanctions

Following hours of uncertainty, administration officials later insisted the president was not referring to newly announced sanctions.

PALM BEACH, Florida — President Donald Trump on Friday set off widespread confusion across the administration when he appeared to announce that he would undo recently imposed sanctions on North Korea.

Following hours of uncertainty, administration officials later insisted that Trump was not referring to the new sanctions on North Korea that his administration rolled out just a day before. Instead, the officials claimed, the president was declaring that he was opposing not-yet-announced sanctions on Pyongyang.

Trump’s sudden tweet left the White House groping for an explanation for much of Friday, telling reporters only that Trump “likes” North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

View the complete March 22 article by Andrew Restuccia and Caitlin Oprysko on the Politico website here.

Trump says he’s reversing North Korea sanctions imposed by his Treasury Department

President Trump said Friday he would reverse sanctions against North Korea that were recently announced by the Treasury Department, a surprise declaration that sparked confusion in Washington and raised fresh doubts about the White House’s policy process.

In a tweet, Trump wrote that “it was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions” would be imposed in addition to “already existing Sanctions on North Korea.”

“I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!” the president added.

New Photos Show North Korea Rebuilding Missile Test Site

On Tuesday, NBC News reported that researchers at Beyond Parallel have photos showing North Korea is pursuing the “rapid rebuilding” of a major rocket launch site, and evidence suggests they may be gearing up to resume missile testing:

Sohae Satellite Launching Station, North Korea’s only operational space launch facility, has been used in the past for satellite launches. These launches use similar technology to what is used for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“This renewed activity, taken just two days after the inconclusive Hanoi Summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, may indicate North Korean plans to demonstrate resolve in the face of U.S. rejection of North Korea’s demands at the summit to lift five UN Security Council sanctions enacted in 2016-2017,” the analysts said. As NBC News reported, Beyond Parallel, a project sponsored by the defense think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), recently identified 20 undisclosed missile sites in North Korea.

View the complete March 5 article by Matthew Chapman on the National Memo website here.

Trump suffers disappointing setback with North Korea

President Trump suffered a significant blow on Thursday when his nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unexpectedly collapsed.

Trump traveled halfway around the world to Vietnam on a mission to broker a historic nuclear accord with Kim, with whom he has spent more than a year building a personal relationship in order to deliver on his No. 1 foreign policy goal of ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons.

Instead, the self-styled negotiator in chief left the two-day summit with no deal after failing to persuade the North Korean strongman to commit to surrendering his arsenal.

View the complete February 28 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

3 takeaways: Trump-Kim collapse ‘a breakdown that … didn’t need to happen’

What now? Analysts see difficult path to a deal — and a distracted U.S. president

ANALYSIS — The table was set for a working lunch inside a posh Hanoi hotel, silverware wrapped in carefully folded napkins atop yellow plates flanked by flowers placed on a long rectangular table. But President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un never stepped foot in the room — and their path to a deal is newly murky.

Reporters in Vietnam for the duo’s second nuclear disarmament summit were positioned on one side of the room, some tweeting pictures of the lunch table as they waited. Soon came this dispatch from the day’s print pooler, David Nakamura of the Washington Post, quoting a White House spokeswoman: “There has been a program change.”

Jim Sciutto

✔@jimsciutto

The table was set and food prepared for a working Trump-Kim lunch that now won’t happen.

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That announcement, it turned out, was an understatement.

View the complete February 28 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.